Forgotten Famiglia
by sakurademonalchemist
Summary: Harry isn't exactly idle when he's stuck in Diagon before third year. Thanks to the goblins he is able to contact his grandfather's family in Italy. No one told him it would bring him into the mafia though! Not that he's complaining when he gets a new older brother out of the deal. Old alliances are tested and new ones are forged as this wizard makes his own way in the underworld!
1. Chapter 1

**Happy Friday the 13th everyone! I almost forgot... In case anyone was wondering WHY I got started on KHR, you can thank Umei no Mai and their story "Black Sky". If I hadn't read that I never would have become interested in KHR.**

* * *

You could say the entire mess began with a desire to live anywhere _but_ the Dursleys next summer. After his narrow escape from Privet Drive and being almost complete access to Diagon (and subsequently his vaults), Harry was more than eager to abuse his new freedom.

Which was why, a week after the initial excitement wore off, he went to the goblins to find out if they did blood tests. It only made sense, because they controlled the bank after all.

So imagine his surprise when he found out that he had several living relatives...all Italian, on his mother's side. There were one or two in what he thought might be Japanese, but most of them were on the Italian side. With the first name on that list next to his grandfather's name being "Daniella Vongola" with a star notation next to it.

"Excuse me, but what's this notation?" he asked the goblin politely.

"Honorary pureblood. Means that they're considered on the level of at _least_ the Ancient and Noble houses because they have a hereditary magic and did something to earn the attention of the Ministry to be considered pure bloods, even if they marry outside the usual lines and bring fresh blood in. It's something that fell out of favor in England, but the Italians still practice it so long as the heir fits the requirements," said the goblin after looking at it.

Harry thought that one over slowly.

"Wait... wouldn't that automatically make me a 'pure blood' by current standards by extension?"

"If you can prove you have the family magics or meet the requirement set, then yes. Look if you want a list of things most pure bloods know, go three doors down that hall and take a left. That's the inheritance office... You can waste their time instead of mine," said the goblin curtly.

Rather than be offended, Harry grinned.

"I will. Many thanks, Master goblin," he said taking his advice.

What he found in that office was highly enlightening. Like the fact he could have claimed his heir ring two years ago and have been protected from mind readers and poisons!

The new blood (he insisted it was a far less derogatory term than 'muggleborn') was horrified at how little Harry knew of his inheritance. So much so that he agreed to get into contact with this 'Daniella' with a vial of freshly drawn blood in the hopes of proving that she was in fact the same Daniella who was related to his grandfather. From what he could see she was his great-aunt.

Another week passed...and when it was close to the time the Weasleys would be arriving, an oddly prim and proper owl arrived with a letter and an odd book.

He was quick to open it.

 _Dear Mr. Potter,_

 _I hope you don't mind me calling you Harry... Mr. Potter seems a bit formal for a boy your age. My name is Daniella and as it turns out I am in fact your great aunt. Imagine my surprise being contacted by the goblins after all this time and finding out I have a great nephew in England!_

 _I had no idea my little brother Giovanni left behind a grandson... though I have no complaints._

 _The book is a 'two-way diary', and is far more secure than simple owl post...though I wouldn't say no to pictures and actual letters I can show off!_

 _I am glad that you were brave enough to reach out to me first... if you had tried to show up claiming to be Giovanni's grandson out of the blue, I doubt my son would have reacted well. He is young and far too foolish for his own good._

 _If you genuinely wish to learn more about our family, feel free to use the diary. I'd love to have someone new to chat with._

 _Daniella._

Harry eagerly opened up the diary and wrote a simple hello... within a few minutes he got a reply back and he beamed.

From the letter alone, Daniella seemed like a fun person. And that impression only grew when he talked to her. She seemed ecstatic to have such a 'young and open-minded young man' who was willing to spend hours chatting with an 'old fuddy-duddy' like her.

The wording alone made him giggle.

It was with a much lighter heart that he went to Hogwarts, even if his mood was slightly marred by the fact that a serial killer was after him.

* * *

Daniella Vongola, the retired Ottavo of the Vongola Familigia, read the two-way diary and giggled. Her great-nephew was simply adorable! It had taken her a month of coaxing before he reluctantly sent a current picture of himself. It was even one of those magical ones that moved~!

Harry was very cute, though she had frowned at how skinny he was in the picture. The poor boy needed to eat more.

She could see Giovanni's features in him...especially the eyes. They were warm and kind just like her poor younger brother. At least now she knew why he had spent so much time in the UK!

But... as adorable and shy as Harry was, Daniella was a former mafia donna. She could read between a lot of the things he wasn't saying and pick up on something that she definitely didn't like.

For one thing, he had an absurd amount of snake anti-venom in his blood. Her personal doctor had been appalled when he measured out how much was in a few drops... the dose of venom he had to have been given to develop that amount would have been enough to kill a full grown man in the peak of health twenty times over. And whatever snake bit him was extremely potent and more worrying, _magical_.

The fact there were also undiluted phoenix tears present in his blood was a testament to how he survived being bit in the first place.

She noted he said absolutely nothing about his family and instead went on about the surrogate one that belonged to an almost friend.

At least the boy was reasonable enough to realize on his own that perhaps this "Ron" wasn't such a good idea for a best friend, and Hermione would need to get a reality check before he started sharing her beliefs.

The twins sounded hilarious though, and from how devious Harry made them out to be, she wouldn't be shocked if they were Mists with a Storm secondary.

The boy would wax on certain subjects but was very cagey on others. And it was those 'other' subjects that had her concerned.

She was already aware of his unfortunate fame... the boy handled it well. He was a kind, gentle child who would rather have his parents than all the staring he was subjected to.

However she would be a fool not to pick up on the subtle, yet obvious hints of a master manipulator trying to get her nephew killed from the shadows.

A test eleven-year-old children could figure out and none of the teachers would believe their honest concerns? A massive snake that had lived in the school for years and even killed a student previously, and no one figured it out sooner? At the very least they should have investigated the bathroom properly!

And now... now there was an escaped 'convict' out to kill him, but no one would tell him any real information. Instead they posted soul-devouring monsters which would be drawn to his Latent flames like moths! He already had a near miss with them before he even got to the school!

At least Harry was trying to investigate what was going on. Daniella suggested he find out what the trial said about Sirius Black... what his motivations for betraying his best friend were so that they could possibly predict what he had to gain from coming after him now.

She noticed the book's gem glowing and opened it.

 _There's nothing._

Daniella blinked.

 _What?_

 _I looked around the old copies of the Daily Prophet, I even owled the Ministry. There wasn't a_ single _copy of a trial record and according to the scribe who sent the letter back it appears to either be misfiled or missing entirely. I even sent letters to the current head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement through her niece... she couldn't find any copies of her predecessor either. ...I think I might have accidentally sparked an inquiry._

He almost certainly did.

 _You didn't use your real name, did you?_

 _And risk it getting out that Harry bloody Potter was asking about his parent's betrayer? I used Hadrian Evans._

Daniella beamed at the book. Clever boy.

 _Well how is school going?_

 _It feels like a cage._

She suspected Harry might have a Cloud flame or at least a secondary. Considering how much he loved flying it was entirely possible he was a Latent Sky... it would explain a lot.

Still, until he accidentally unlocked his flames she was loath to remove him from his civilian life. Remove him from his home life, yes. Bring him properly into the family, no.

What little her men found out by doing a discreet search revealed that someone definitely wanted Harry to _stay_ in that abusive home. The idiot woman hadn't even realized they found the little 'room' (and Daniella was loath to call it that) under the stairs, a place people NORMALLY stored cleaning supplies. And the less said about the multiple locks, the cat flap and the strong indication that there had previously been bars on the window before they were somehow ripped out, the better.

And that was _before_ they got a good read on how Petunia, who was only Lily's _half_ sister and damn well knew that fact, felt about her nephew.

In short, she was petty, jealous and wanted nothing to do with something she could have shared with her younger sister. To be fair, the only reason the Vongola hadn't caught on to the fact that there were more heirs in England was because Giovanni died the night he was going to propose to Lily and Petunia's mother, Rosemary.

Rose had quickly remarried because she had news of her own to share, as she had been three weeks along with Lily at the time. She decided to 'give her former husband a second chance' without telling him she was pregnant with another man's child to avoid the shame of it all. She was an Irish Catholic, and they took a dim view of unwed mothers, even if the woman already had a child.

However Petunia was old enough that she was able to figure out that the reason Lily looked almost nothing like their father... was because Lily's father was her mother's boyfriend. The one who died before he had a chance to propose. Naturally it only added to the reason why Petunia hated Lily and everything to do with her, even if her father never found out that Lily wasn't his even at his death. It was a secret Rose took to her grave.

 _Well I_ might _be able to help with your summer at least. However I would be unable to bring you here directly. I would be sending one of my trusted friends to come get you._

She wouldn't dare bring the boy into their family formally. He deserved to have some freedom from their fate. But she could at least let him stay in their family vacation homes and introduce him to one of his cousins.

Xanxus liked her better than her foolish son, after all.

She could feel the hope in his soul even from the diary.

 _Really? I won't be a burden, will I?_

Daniella was very, very glad this "Petunia" wasn't related to her by blood. That spiteful fool had left invisible scars on her great nephew!

 _Children should_ never _consider themselves a burden. And it means I can introduce you to my youngest grandson. You might like him... he's rather rough around the edges, but under that he's a good boy. Though his friend is very loud._

 _What's he like?_

Daniella chuckled. Harry was such an innocent, sweet boy. It would be amusing to see how he reacted to Xanxus. Though from what she saw of the "lost" reports (which weren't lost but deliberately misfiled by an outsider) the poor boy had been abused and neglected by those fools.

The sheer number of reports she found on the 'cousin' Dudley also suggested that the adults left the physical abuse to the son, rather than risk being caught themselves.

A child beating up another was usually brushed off. Especially if they were both boys. Children being children after all... but an adult striking a child was taken much more seriously.

Daniella grinned as she gave a slightly biased summary of Xanxus and his Rain Squalo. Harry asked multiple questions, but he honestly seemed interested in meeting his cousin.

It was close to when the 'school' (she would be more likely to call it a death trap) was about to let out for summer when she opened up the book to something she had been dreading.

 _Auntie..._ (Harry never called her 'granny' or anything to insinuate she was "old", to her open delight) _do you know anything about weird fire?_

Daniella felt a pit of dread in her gut.

 _Weird fire?_

 _I was trying to keep Sirius from getting killed by the dementors and this weird fire seemed to surge through me... except it only made them swarm us even more! If not for Hermione and her time turner, I don't know if we would have made it._

 _...What?_

 _The one who saved us... it was my future self. I thought it was my dad, because the patronus turned into a stag, but it was just me._

 _Harry, think carefully. Did the 'fire' you saw and felt take any color in particular?_

 _I don't really remember... but I felt really light. Like something was being freed after being locked away for a really long time. I was already on the verge of passing out with all those things around me._

She was really hoping this was just some sort of family magic from James Potter and not Dying Will Flames. Because if he had gone from Latent to Active (and the mere fact he was in enough danger to instinctively draw upon his Dying Will made her seethe with motherly fury) then there was no way she could keep him from their world.

 _My friend Diana will be picking you up from the train station. It's King's Cross, between platforms nine and ten, right?_

She could just see him nodding.

 _The train usually arrives around noon, or at least one. How will I know it's her?_

Daniella grinned... well, she did want Xanxus to meet Harry...

 _How about this... I'll send my grandson's friend Squalo with her... you can't miss him, he has naturally silver hair and a very loud voice._

This was going to either be hilarious or a disaster.

* * *

"Voi! Why the hell are we in England of all places?" demanded Squalo irate. He hated it here already.

"Because Daniella asked us to pick someone up. Think of it as one major prank on her son...because he has no idea of the little surprise that dropped in her lap," said Diana grinning.

"Surprise?"

"It's something Xanxus is either going to love or hate. I have the feeling he might like this one."

She had already chased off that fat pig who was supposed to pick the boy up. He was about to have a very bad day, because if Daniella even confirmed what she suspected about his 'care' of the boy, then he was about to suffer some Vongola-style revenge... the civilian course anyway.

And if he tried to get the attention of the English mafia, he would quickly find he had pissed off the wrong people. His son was already on the fast track to ending up in a shallow grave with his behavior.

There, coming out of the secret station, was a boy who looked a lot like the one sent to Daniella. He was so tiny!

He scanned the crowd cautiously, she noted with approval.

"Voi! Who the hell are we waiting for anyway?" demanded Squalo loudly. He was not a patient person.

Hearing the loud shout, the boy looked towards them...before his eyes widened and he made a beeline straight for them.

"Excuse me... are you the people Auntie sent?" he asked politely.

Diana grinned.

"Daniella is very eager to meet you properly, bambino."

"You're kidding? This runt is the one we're here for? He looks like a stiff breeze could knock him over!"

The kid turned his attention fully on Squalo, who inhaled in shock.

The eye color was wrong, but the look in his eyes was a dead ringer for Xanxus when he was not amused.

"And you look like you should dye your hair before people mistake you for an old codger with no sense of manners... grandpa," he shot back flatly.

Diana hid her laughter behind her hand, but she wasn't very successful.

"Voi! This is my natural hair color!" said Squalo, recovering.

There was a hoot, and he noticed the bird. Who kept owls as pets?

"And this is Hedwig," he said amused.

"Come along Harry. Do you want to stay in a hotel or do you want to head straight to the villa?"

"The sooner we leave, the less likely it is someone will figure out I wasn't picked up by that walrus," said Harry, shuddering.

The only reason he hadn't lost hope about this summer after Sirius lost the chance to prove his innocence was because Daniella had said she would bring him to Italy. Even if it meant having to drop him off for the school year later... he'd rather spend his summer in another country with perfect strangers than stand another one with those people.

It was about an hour through their trip (he had long since let his owl out of the cage, and she sat primly on the back of the seat he had taken) that the events of the year and the fact he wouldn't be spending another hellish summer with the Dursleys hit him like a brick and he fell asleep.

"Voi. Who the hell is this kid?"

"You know Daniella had a little brother who died in Ireland after she took control of the Vongola, right?"

"Gio...something," said Squalo.

"Giovanni. As it turns out, he was courting an Irishwoman at the time and the night he died he was planning to propose to her. Except it seems he 'sampled the goods' before he died..."

"He's too young to be his son... grandson?" asked Squalo. The kid was out like a light, but he still kept his volume down.

"The kid found out by accident through certain people, and decided to contact Daniella. He sent a very polite letter and a vial of blood for us to test...it came out a match, proving his claim. He wasn't even trying to ask us for anything. He just wanted family he could actually claim that didn't hate him for something beyond his control."

"So why bring me?" asked Squalo. Because that had been bugging him for hours.

"You're easy to recognize...and because she fully plans to introduce Harry to Xanxus. How do you think he'd react to a younger cousin he could treat like a little brother? One he would be allowed to train if his flames go active that he could talk to freely?"

Squalo's eyes widened. That was a very sneaky move...and this kid was only loyal to Daniella, not Timoteo. He had no reason to report anything Xanxus said back to the old bastard, and Squalo was the closest thing to a friend Xanxus had in that place.

"Voi. Xanxus is either going to be pissed or happy about this."

"Exactly."


	2. Chapter 2

Harry woke up in a soft bed, in a room he definitely didn't recognize. But Hedwig looked perfectly calm, so that was alright.

"Ah, so you're awake!" said a very cheerful voice.

Harry blinked and reached for his glasses. She became a little clearer.

The woman was in a wheelchair, but there was a sort of ageless quality about her. She had a strange marking on her cheek, and amber colored eyes like a sky at dawn or dusk. There was a crossbow that was well cared for by her side, but it was more out of habit from what he could tell.

She looked to be in her sixties at least, but she could have been fifty.

"...Are you Auntie?"

Daniella positively _beamed_ at him.

"That's right! You were so tuckered out that we decided to let you sleep in," she said happily.

Somehow he had the feeling she was pleased because he didn't call her out about her age. Well, 'Auntie' fit her better than 'granny' did whenever he was talking to her.

"You are even more adorable than your picture! But far too thin," she said grinning.

Harry blushed at being called adorable, but took the 'thin' comment in stride. It wasn't his fault he was so skinny.

There was an explosion outside, a lot of yelling, and the sound of chaos.

"What was that?"

"It seems my dear grandson is having another one of his friendly spats with his friend," said Daniella. She hadn't even batted an eye.

Harry blinked... the way they acted reminded him of how the Weasleys tuned out the twin's explosions in their room.

"There's some clothes in the dresser, if you're feeling up to meeting them properly."

He finally realized he wasn't wearing his old clothes. A cursory inspection later revealed that most of the 'clothes' from his time in the Dursleys had been tossed out (more like burned by an enraged Daniela), and that the only thing that remained were his Weasley sweaters and school uniform.

* * *

 _With Xanxus..._

"Voi! When is that brat going to wake up!"

"Shark trash, shut up."

Xanxus was not pleased...but he was also very curious to meet his cousin. The fact his Nonna was hiding this from his 'father' was something he found hilarious.

Whatever he was expecting, it wasn't the stick that came out in clothes he definitely wasn't used to wearing.

However it was the eyes that had his attention...not the color, which was a vibrant green almost the color of jewels. No, what had his attention was the unshakable resolve this kid had in his body.

He could be battered, beaten and half-dead...but he would remain a stubborn bastard who wouldn't give up. This wasn't some trash who didn't understand... this kid was a fucking survivor and he wouldn't hesitate make the last sacrifice if it meant taking out the other asshole with him.

Something weird passed between them. It took him a few moments to realize he was actually grinning.

He didn't even know this kid and he liked him already.

Daniela beamed at the silent interaction between them. She knew introducing the two was a great idea!

"Harry, this is my grandson Xanxus. Xanxus, this is your cousin Harry. Be nice."

Harry looked him in the eye without flinching.

"Hello."

Lunch was slightly awkward. Xanxus had grown up in the slums, so he recognized the signs of long term abuse and neglect pretty quick. The kid was defensive about his food, but was so discreet about it that it was easy to miss. There was also a slightly quiet air about him, one that made it easier to disappear into the background so no one noticed him. Even with the new clothes, he could see the kid was beyond skinny as hell... and he did _not_ like having unknowns around him.

All signs of someone who got the hell beaten out of him regularly by the people who should have taken care of him, and who withheld food often enough that he would have a lot of trouble gaining proper weight.

He had a quiet pride, and while he would bend he was a stubborn bastard who wouldn't break until all hope was lost.

Xanxus was not a "nice" person. However he was a slum brat himself, so he knew how to handle this sort of person. He unconsciously adjusted his body language, and slowly Harry relaxed around them.

Daniela looked very pleased with herself. Introducing her adopted grandson and her newly found nephew had been a brilliant move.

It was weird. He found himself enjoying spending time with Xanxus, to the point he barely registered Squalo's loud "Voi!" or the way Xanxus seemed to call everyone trash.

Well almost everyone. He called Daniela "Nonna" (which had him earning major brownie points with his aunt, because he honestly said she didn't look old enough to be anyone's grandmother... certainly not to someone Xanxus' age) and he called Harry "little bird" for some reason.

Of course that could have something to do with the way Hedwig had taken _one_ look at Xanxus and promptly began treating him the same way she treated Harry. Like he was another chick she needed to mother.

She liked Xanxus enough that within a week, he started wearing some of her discarded feathers in his hair.

* * *

"Little bird, we're going out shopping. And we have to pick up your new contacts."

Daniela had been pissed when she found out he had been wearing the same glasses for years. So much so that she had her personal doctor take him in for an exam...and _he_ came out spitting mad saying it was a miracle Harry could see a damn thing with his glasses considering they were the wrong prescription!

Which was why Harry got two new pairs of glasses that actually _looked_ good on him (according to Daniela and Xanxus anyway), and three sets of contacts. Including a pair that would allow him to change his eye color.

If Xanxus was shocked about learning that magic existed, or that his new "little brother" was a wizard, he didn't show it. Though he did scoff at the fact they still used "pathetic sticks" to cast spells.

Xanxus gently ruffled his hair. He made sure Harry saw what he was doing so the kid didn't flinch.

Above all, Xanxus knew damn well that you needed patience to train someone out of that sort of instinct.

Harry had to gasp when he saw the world clearly for the first time in years.

"That big a difference, huh?" said Xanxus amused.

"Imagine having a thick film over your eyes for years, only to have it removed and seeing the world clearly," said Harry, taking in the sights with major enthusiasm.

He noticed that an interesting movie he had heard about on the TV when he was watching it with Xanxus and Squalo was playing, but was too shy to ask.

Xanxus scoffed, and lightly cuffed him on the head.

"Come on little brother. It's not like Nonna will care if we decide to stay out and watch a movie or go out to eat," he said.

Harry didn't care about his gruff attitude or demand that he 'behave' like he had a stick up his ass. He accepted his personality for what it was.

After all, at least Xanxus never lied about being a street brat with a whore for a mother. He was unashamed to be who and what he was, Vongola's "noble image" be damned.

If they didn't like it, then they should have left him on the street with his mother. He was an uncouth, brash and foul mouthed asshole and damn proud of it!

And Harry was fine with that, so long as he never acted like he was something he wasn't.

Of course some idiot noticed the infamous "Vongola bastard" was out and about with an unknown civilian and thought to try something when they came out after the movie. It was interesting, and decent enough. But Xanxus preferred seeing the way his little brother light up with something as simple as going to a movie theater like a normal person.

This was a major test of how Harry would react to the Cosa Nostra. So far any flame (if he had any) were more like wisps. Daniela had yet to confirm if he had gone active or not. She was still looking for one "Sirius Black" to give him a thorough chewing out for not insuring his godson was being raised _properly_.

Harry didn't bat an eye at the sudden violence. He didn't even care about the fact someone was shooting at him.

Because they were supposed to be on a simple errand, he had left his wand behind. However he wasn't going to go down without a fight.

"Sniper, on the roof!" he said to Squalo.

"Voi! I see him. Good eyes!" said Squalo.

Xanxus shot the bastard who hadn't gotten a decent bead on the trio.

"You call them out, I'll shoot the assholes. Squalo can handle anyone dumb enough to come at us from the ground," said Xanxus.

Harry nodded without hesitation. He was calm, for a civilian. He didn't even freak out about the fact people were trying to kill or capture them...he focused on the here and now, dealing with these idiots.

He only had to duck out twice before he called out two more snipers, which Xanxus shot down without hesitation. One fool came out of nowhere and tried to get to them...but Squalo cut him up with his sword.

Then some idiot attempted to sneak up on them, never mind the famous Vongola Hyper Intuition (which even Xanxus had to a limited degree) would have warned them.

"Get lost, wanker!" shouted Harry, and it happened.

Pure orange flames with streaks of violet and indigo flared to life in his hands as he threw a rather nasty right hook. It sent the thug careening into the wall where he cracked his skull. If he wasn't dead from the hit, then he'd bleed out in short order soon enough.

Xanxus grinned.

"Good punch."

Harry was looking at his hands in shock.

There were more gunshots, and the sound of tires. The flames sputtered out and Harry sagged. Xanxus caught him before he crashed. He felt his Wrath fall into an easy resonance with his little brother. It felt a lot nicer than the dissonance he always felt with that old bastard who called himself his father.

"Are you three alright? What happened to him?" asked Diana.

"He's fine. He went Active properly is all," said Xanxus. They were quickly shuffled off back to the villa.

Daniela wanted to postpone informing her son about his cousin for as long as possible. Originally it was a little prank, but now she was genuinely concerned as what Timoteo would do if he knew.

Xanxus openly admitted he'd rather stay with Harry than go near the Iron Fort. Not only was he dissonant with Timoteo, but her son barely had anything to do with his adopted child save to reprimand him for not being more like that foolish boy Iemitsu or his own sons who were already grown.

At this point she was seriously considering sending Xanxus to Hogwarts for a year...just to see how bad the situation there was.

Daniela looked angry, but her eyes softened when she heard Harry was just exhausted from using his Flames, not hurt.

She was very fond of her nephew, after all.

"What color were they?" she asked Xanxus, who had been close enough to see.

"Sky, with a strong Cloud/Mist secondary," he said immediately. "I'm betting the Mist is because of that magic you told me about though."

"Well, at least we know he's Active now for certain," she sighed. This was a mess.

"He didn't even freak out once when the shooting started. Just called out snipers and handled himself like he was used to being in danger," said Xanxus, frowning.

"Voi. I thought he was a civilian?"

"One who is apparently being tested every year at his 'school'. Xanxus, how would you like to be the one to train Harry's Flames?"

Xanxus' eyes widened.

"What?"

"I would be willing to send you to this... Hogwarts...as a transfer student, with a possibility of sending Squalo to the area during holidays or on weekends. In exchange you can train Harry how to use his flames and improve his physical condition to something a bit more acceptable."

"I thought you needed magic to get into this place?"

"The Vongola are considered pure bloods by the Ministry. Though that only lasts as long as the 'heir' displays whatever magic or ability is passed down through the generations," said a voice tiredly.

"What are you doing awake?" said Xanxus.

"I'm used to worse. Anyway according to the goblins, the Vongola are considered an 'Ancient and Noble House' by pure blood standards so long as the heir fits the requirements set. You could marry outside the established lines and it wouldn't make a bit of difference so long as the heir and head of the family have the same bloodline gift," said Harry. "So I suppose by that definition you could easily be considered a 'home-school wizard' or something."

"And Squalo?"

"A knight or Steward, easily," said Harry without hesitation. "He's too subservient to Xanxus to be considered his equal, but he acts as his Right hand so he could be considered one of Xanxus' knights. I would have to look it up."

"Not right now you're not. You are going to eat something and then get some sleep!" said Daniela sternly.

Harry was so dead on his feet that once he managed to finish the majority of his stew he practically blacked out.

Xanxus snorted.

"Stubborn brat," he said, hauling the kid bodily over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

He dumped the teen on the bed and threw the covers over him. Harry looked so much like a little kitten that Xanxus huffed.

He looked at his grandmother.

"So what do I need to do in order to get into this pig warts place or whatever the fuck it's called?"

Daniela grinned at him. It was good to see Xanxus being all protective over his "little brother".

"We'll have you tested for a core in the morning. You two should eat and get some sleep."

Xanxus stormed off to take a shower... and to the open amusement of Daniela went straight to Harry's room to comfort with the younger boy so he didn't freak out in the morning about what happened.

Somehow she doubted he would, but he'd appreciate having something to hug. The two of them had bonded better than she could have hoped, and she could tell Xanxus' flames didn't feel so rage-filled anymore. Whether it was a product of having a "little brother" or a result of Harry's Flames mixing with his, it could only be for the good.

Xanxus needed something to ground him properly.


	3. Chapter 3

Harry woke up and found Xanxus curled up against him like a great cat. A tiger or maybe a liger, but definitely a big cat. Rather than be mortified like most would in his position, he snuggled closer. Something about the idea of sharing a bed (in a purely platonic, brotherly sense of course) was too tempting to resist.

He completely missed Daniela and Squalo taking pictures.

 _During lunch_

"The mafia is actually a real thing?" said Harry in amused disbelief.

"Voi! Don't you know anything brat? The Vongola is one of the biggest names in the Cosa Nostra! We're at the head of the pack and we keep the other families in line!" said Squalo.

"You're not freaking out," noted Xanxus.

"Wizard. My quota of 'fucks to give' when it comes to crap like this died years ago. As far as I'm concerned, this is just more nonsense to add on top of whatever the magical enclaves throw at me," said Harry dryly. "Besides, I have yet to see a reason to care how big or impressive the 'Vongola' are. The only thing I actually _care_ about is the fact we're family."

Xanxus grinned at the fact he had gotten Harry to loosen up with his language. And that despite the fact he was a 'civilian', he honestly did not care that he was a member of one of the biggest mafia familigias in the world.

"I think the Primo would have loved you," said Daniela proudly. "Anyway, because you've awakened your Dying Will Flames, or 'soul fire' I believe the Ministry called it, you're now one of us. It's nonnegotiable... even if you did try to escape, you would be dragged right back in because of your Flame type."

"...There's more than one?"

"Several. Though the ones that we concern ourselves with are classified as the 'Flames of the Sky'..." said Daniela, outlining the seven types.

"What do I have?"

"You have two of the rarest types, along with one we suspect is tied directly to your magic. Your Flame embodies harmony, which is the orange flame of the Sky, propagation, which is the violet Cloud and creation, which is the indigo Mist. Because of your Sky Flame, you will automatically be in danger from the Cosa Nostra unless you're already tied to a familigia. Skies are highly coveted for their Flame property," said Daniela.

Harry had a pained look on his face.

"Not again..." he said, looking very much like he would love to bang his head against the table.

Xanxus looked amused.

"Fortunately for you, you're already connected to a familigia. If it makes you feel any better, Xanxus and I have the same type, though his is mixed with storm and I am a straight Sky," said Daniela, eyes sparkling with amusement and some sympathy.

"So what does this mean?" asked Harry.

"To be blunt, nothing much outside of what you would already be trained for. Xanxus can handle your Flame training, at least until I can decide whether this 'Hogwarts' is adequately preparing you as a member of an 'Ancient and Noble House', as you put it. As of right now you're now in line for the right of succession, though you're more of a spare heir in the event Enrico and the others are taken out. If it makes you feel any better, Xanxus is ahead of you in that account," said Daniela flatly.

It did make him feel better. Outside of being a spare heir and having to go through the same lessons he would have had to go through anyway, nothing had changed.

Harry's expression brightened.

"Voi! What's with that look?"

"For once this sort of thing wasn't dumped on me alone, and I'm not suddenly expected to know 'everything' or told to be something I'm not. I'm not supposed to be some 'mythical' hero or expected to suddenly pull the family out of the ashes like some bloody phoenix. I'm just a spare that can be forgotten about," he said rather cheerfully.

"That's the spirit," said Daniela grinning.

Harry clearly had no interest in trying to become Decimo. So long as he had his family and his friends, he was happy with his lot in life.

"And to think... this is before we get into the subject of Guardians!" said Daniela.

"Or better yet, how you're going to have to deal with even more girls after you because of who you're related to," said Xanxus, smirking.

Harry openly groaned at that. The "Harry Potter fangirls" were very annoying and it was bad enough that some of them stalked him between classes. It sounded like he would have to deal with more people after him. Xanxus laughed at his misery.

* * *

Harry was halfway through his summer homework (he was making better progress since he the sooner he finished, the more Daniela would let him explore Italy with Xanxus and Squalo...and a few extra bodyguards sworn to secrecy) when he saw a very familiar owl.

Rather than let Errol in, he got up and went to find Daniela.

It seemed the Weasley finally figured out he wasn't in Privet Dr. anymore. Daniela's people were still looking for a dog fitting Sirius' description.

Harry thought it petty revenge that he didn't warn Sirius in their letters about the fact Daniela was planning to give him an earful once they found "Padfoot" and brought him before her. It wasn't like the mafia was going to give a damn about his supposed crime.

"What is it?"

Harry opened the window, allowing Errol to tiredly slump on the table with the letter in his claws.

"Ah. Diana, could you bring me the 'special' letter tools for unknown letters? I want the full work up."

"I doubt they'd poison me... but a port key might be possible," said Harry.

One demonstration of those was enough. He hated anything other than broom travel.

"What's going on?"

"Errol managed to find me, and as much as I love Mrs. Weasley she is a bit..." said Harry grimacing.

"On a scale of one to ten, how bad?" asked Xanxus seriously.

Harry thought of how to phrase this, then decided being blunt would likely be best.

"She's a nice enough woman, but she's overbearing, smothering and is hard headed as a pig with the voice of a banshee when she gets going. Generally speaking she sends at _least_ three howlers a month to the twins alone. She refuses to support them in their efforts to make a joke shop, and with how creative and smart those two are they could easily outstrip the current ones. She would prefer all her sons became office clerks, which she considers a 'safe' occupation and she won't hesitate to keep anyone younger than her out of the loop because she think they're 'too young' to handle important matters," he said in a rush.

Okay, he loved Molly Weasley to a point, but she was not his damn mother and he didn't appreciate the fact she thought he couldn't handle being told the "truth" about Sirius last year. And he had the most uncomfortable feeling she'd be the first to suggest he marry Ginny, simply by din of fact that she looked and 'acted' entirely too much like his mother Lily and so she had a legitimate reason to smother him.

Xanxus winced.

"That bad?"

"I tried to help out with the kitchen when I stayed there summer of second year, and she refused to even consider that maybe I could handle a few chores. She rules her house with an iron fist and if her husband isn't completely whipped by her, I would honestly be shocked," said Harry flatly.

Daniela encouraged Harry to expand his horizons. So much so that she allowed him to take cooking lessons from her personal chef, and was already looking into getting him training in how to fly things like helicopters and small planes.

Considering what they told him about the Vongola, he would not be shocked in the least if after he got his pilot's license that he ended up with a state of the art, bomb-proof helicopter or personal plane that could break the sound barrier as a present. If there was one thing he'd dump a lot of money into, it was something he could fly.

It was probably a good thing Xanxus had yet to tell him that they could use Sky Flames to fly with minimal aid so long as they had something to channel it.

If he had, then it was unlikely Harry would ever touch the ground again.

"Voi! What's with the half-dead owl on the table?" asked Squalo.

"His name is Errol. I honestly have no idea why they haven't just saved up a few sickles to buy a replacement."

There was no way in hell that the Weasleys were _that_ poor to the point they couldn't save up and simply BUY a replacement owl. Seriously, Errol could use the break.

Once it was confirmed that there wasn't a port key attached, Harry read the letter. He scoffed and handed it straight to Daniela with an irritated look on his face.

"Wow. A rather bold and arrogant woman. To berate a child not even her own blood as if she alone knew best... you _did_ tell them that you weren't going to be staying in your previous residence, right?" asked Daniela.

"I told Hermione and Ron that I would be staying at my aunt's, and that I was unlikely to be in England until August at the very earliest. I have no idea where she gets off thinking she has a right to know where I am when I already told them I wasn't going to be in England. It's not like they cared before," said Harry frowning.

"If you like, I can help you dictate a reply and make it clear that it is none of her business," offered Daniela. The tone of the letter alone said that she would dislike this "Molly Weasley" greatly.

"According to this they were planning to 'rescue' me from my aunt's again, only to find out the hard way I wasn't there. They were going to invite me to the Quidditch World Cup," said Harry, looking at the letter again.

Daniela's eyes gleamed.

"Quidditch is your favorite sport, is it not? And I'm sure Xanxus and Squalo would like a chance to see what sort of people you've been dealing with until now..."

"So I should tell them I'd meet them at the World Cup, but I won't be staying at the Burrow? How would we even get tickets?"

"You leave that to me," said Daniela. "Though it sounds like port keys are an almost guarantee."

Xanxus' application for transfer was accepted, with a probationary period of one school year, to determine if Hogwarts was acceptable compared to his home tutors. He had enough magic to use most spells, but little interest outside of keeping his little brother safe.

It would be too difficult to hide Harry's existence from the main Vongola family if they also pulled Squalo out, so he was stuck in Italy. But he would be getting a "permanent" port key that would take him to Hogsmeade at least twice a month, preferably during the scheduled weekends and during holidays.

He didn't like it, but at least he knew Xanxus could handle himself.

"Hmph. Let's see this sport you're so fascinated about," said Xanxus.

"I will also be sending a few new blood guards with you. They at least will be competent compared to what I've heard of English Aurors," said Daniela.

"New blood?" asked Squalo.

"Muggleborns, according to the English," said Daniela.

* * *

Xanxus was deeply unimpressed. His reason being?

The English were all idiots. They were supposed to be in hiding, and yet they were stupid enough to have all this ostentatious crap out. Like the trash with actual freaking peacocks on his lawn.

What the hell?

"Please tell me this isn't the average intelligence level of the English wizards," he asked.

"Do you want a comforting lie or..." said Harry dryly.

He was wearing his colored contacts, and some water-proof make-up to hide his distinctive scar. That plus the minor tan, the clothes that actually fit and the different attitude from having actual family he could actually acknowledge being related to made it very hard to tell that he was the same underfed thirteen year old who left a few months ago.

To make it even better, he literally walked _right past_ Hermione who went to get water and she didn't even recognize him.

On the plus side, he did see where they were camping so they could go visit later. His temporary bodyguard wanted him to stick close to Xanxus or Squalo, since they didn't want him to be swamped if he was recognized.

At least they got a tent with enough charms to make it damn near bomb-proof, with sound dampening charms that activated on command.

Harry did managed to get some omniculars, and they all made their way to the top box.

He had to hide a grin when he heard the voices of his friends.

"Where's Harry? I thought he said he'd meet us here," whined Ron.

"Yeah, it's seriously weird we haven't seen him yet," said Fred. Or was it George.

"Who's the short old guy?" asked Ron rather rudely.

Squalo twitched at that.

"Voi! I am not old! This is my natural fucking hair color, asshole!" he shouted in English.

Harry snickered, as did Xanxus.

"Seriously Squalo, if you hate people commenting on the fact you have silver hair, why haven't you just dyed it yet?" said Harry, laughing. Xanxus smirked at his Rain.

"Voi! It's a matter of pride! If they don't like it they can kiss my ass!" said Squalo loudly.

"Then quit bitching about people calling you old, shark trash," said Xanxus.

The twins were laughing...right up until they registered who the voice belonged to.

They started at the shortest of the trio, mouths agape.

" _Harry_?!" they said in unison.

Harry turned to face them a winked.

"Took you long enough. I walked past Hermione on the way past the water spigot and she didn't even notice!" he laughed.

"Who are you friends?" asked Hermione.

"I'm not his friend, trash. I'm his _cousin,"_ said Xanxus with a glare. He didn't like her tone at all. She looked like a really bitchy Lightning Latent too. The twins looked like they _might_ be interesting.

"Turns out I have more family on my mum's side than anyone told me. My aunt agreed to take me in when I contacted her and I've been staying with her all summer. Xanxus is going to be joining us at school on a probationary period, since she's curious as to what the standards are like at Hogwarts from an outside perspective," said Harry.

"Where's your glasses?" said Ron loudly as they walked up to the top box.

"It's called contacts, Ronald. I'm assuming you're wearing the colored kind, since your eyes aren't green," said Hermione rolling her eyes.

"My aunt was _pissed_ when she found out I've been forced to wear the wrong prescription for years, to say nothing of the state of my clothes. She practically forced me into a new wardrobe," said Harry embarrassed.

"Those weren't clothes...they were rags and you know it. You're one of us and there's no excuse for wearing that crap," said Xanxus, lightly slapping the back of his head.

"So where are you staying?" asked Hermione.

"Voi. We're only here so we can see what this Quidditch this is about, considering the runt went on and on about it."

"Where are you sitting?" asked Arthur. From what he could tell, Harry was perfectly alright, and he looked much happier than he did second year. Clearly this other "aunt" was much better at taking care of him than the one they met.

"Top box. The second Nonna said she wanted tickets, the Ministry fell over themselves to get us the best seats they could," said Xanxus gruffly.

"Nonna?" said Percy, unfamiliar with the term. If they were that close to the Ministry, perhaps it would be best to stick close.

"It means Grandmother. I get why you call her that, but I honestly don't think she looks that old," said Harry.

"Voi... and you wonder why you're her favorite next to the boss," said Squalo shaking his head.

"They even supplied the bodyguards without us even asking, recommending their top men," said Xanxus unconcerned. "Not like we needed them. From what I can tell we could have handled it."

"We're not even fifteen Xanxus. I'm pretty sure they're more in line with chaperons than guards. I still don't get what Auntie did to make them that nervous around her."

"That's normal," said Squalo dismissively.

"What family are you from?" asked Percy. Clearly they were very highly placed, if the Ministry jumped to hand over top Aurors to act as chaperons/bodyguards for teenagers.

"Too recognizable," said Harry immediately, which was the excuse Daniela had given him, though he did add "And if you knew enough to recognize Xanxus or his silver haired knight over here on sight, then clearly you wouldn't need to ask. I will say that it's ranked much higher than Malfoy ever would be."

"In your dreams, Potter," sneered a familiar voice.

Harry didn't have to look. He could just feel the smarm and arrogance from here. At least with Xanxus it was _warranted_.

"Hmph. You weren't exaggerating when you said he was a weak trash who has to hide behind _mommy's_ skirts," said Xanxus with a sneer much like a dragon more than happy to demonstrate who the top dog was.

Draco took one look at Xanxus' red eyes and Squalo's eager shark-like expression to join in on some casual violence...and paled. He clammed up very quickly and sent cautious looks at them for the entire game.

Xanxus turned when he heard clapping.

"Teach us, oh wise one!" they said mock-bowing.

Xanxus let out a bark of amused laughter.

"I can see why you liked these two best," he said smirking. Harry grinned.


	4. Chapter 4

Harry felt a weird twinge at the back of his senses when the "Veela" came out.

"Hmph. Don't know what they are, but that ability is annoying," said Xanxus.

"Voi. What the hell is going on?" asked Squalo, looking beyond irritable.

"More importantly, why exactly is Fudge practically falling over himself for teenagers?" asked Harry confused.

The second Fudge saw them sit in the 'reserved' seats, he damn near fell over himself and thankfully for Harry's sanity didn't recognize him at all.

Xanxus ignored him without hesitation. He couldn't stand boot-licking toadies like this idiot, and leaned against the chair with his feet on the back of the one in front of him like he owned the place.

He could feel Ron's jealousy at the way people were acting around them, and glared at the red head until he looked away.

Harry seemed to be enjoying the game, and Xanxus thought it was alright. The omniculars were mildly annoying, the fact the announcer was too close irritated him something fierce, and he disliked the veela on principle.

He chalked it up to a sports thing, like football or baseball. Interesting, but not worth his time unless he was playing. Squalo found it mildly amusing, but he didn't see the appeal much either.

Xanxus found the interactions Harry had with the Weasleys interesting. The twins at least seemed reliable, but the Lightning girl and the Storm brat were both far too nosy for their own good...and the less said about the youngest, Ginny and the way she looked at his little brother, the better.

Freaking fan girls.

Fred and George cornered Xanxus while Harry was sitting next to an irritable Squalo and fielding his "friends" questions like a seasoned pro.

"So... are you really Harry's cousin?"

"Adopted cousin, but yes. He's like my little brother. And my Nonna is his great-aunt. She was beyond thrilled to find out her younger brother had a grandson she didn't know about, and that he reached out to her. He's been staying with us all summer and we've been trying to put some weight on him since we forced him to see our personal doctor," said Xanxus without hesitation. He stared them down with his blood red eyes, and something seemed to pass between them.

It seemed he passed some sort of unspoken test, because they relaxed immediately.

"Mum went completely spare when we came back and she found out he wasn't in Surrey. She thought he was kidnapped or something," said Fred.

"Nonna was not impressed with her letter. The way she acted it was like she owned him or something, and she was way too forward about demanding to know where he was and why he thought it was acceptable to leave his home without getting 'approval' first," sneered Xanxus.

Bill, who was listening in with half an ear, frowned.

"She did what?"

Xanxus pulled out the letter and passed it to him.

"Nonna almost wrote her a strongly worded letter about minding her own damn business," said Xanxus flatly.

Bill scanned the missive and his frown deepened, before passing it to Charlie.

"Did dad know about this?" he asked seriously.

"Know about what?" asked Arthur. Charlie handed him the letter and once he read it he frowned. "I knew Molly sent him a letter... but this is almost completely unacceptable. She should know better."

They loved Harry like he was family, but this was a bit too much. His wife should know better than to demand things from someone who wasn't officially part of the family, especially someone from an ancient and noble house like Harry was.

"By the way, what happened to Errol?" asked Charlie.

"He's on medical leave. The magical vet took one look at that owl and said he should have been retired over a decade ago. He's in no shape to be flying letters long distances...he almost gave out of a heart attack just getting to Italy and Harry didn't want him to die trying to send a letter back," said Xanxus without hesitation. "Anyone with eyes could see that owl is on his last legs, so why haven't you bought a replacement yet?"

Bill blinked.

"That's actually a good question. I mean owls don't cost more than three or four sickles for the more common varieties and Errol was looking peaky even when I was a first year. Why haven't you gotten a new owl dad?"

"I keep thinking about it, but I forget or there's never enough to get one," said Arthur sheepishly.

"Dad, if you needed a new owl you could have asked. It's not like we can't afford it on our salary and it's for the whole family," sighed Charlie. "Hell, we offer to help pay for the school supplies every year and Mum never lets us. Ron could have had a new wand long before my old one broke."

"Seriously, we could have easily saved a galleon here and there in time to pay for the yearly round of school supplies," said Bill looking at his father pointedly.

Seeing Harry yawn, Xanxus jumped at the chance to leave. While the Weasleys were interesting (some he couldn't stand, like Ron and to a lesser extent Ginny), but the twins and the two oldest brothers were alright.

Though he did pause when he saw Percy who was just trying to make his own name in the Ministry.

"You know a lot of the politicians our family deals with find people who speak more than one language impressive."

"Really?" said Percy.

"The more languages you know, the easier it is to get hired in some places. Even if it's only as an interpreter, it would open up a lot more avenues in potential promotions because acting as the one translating for department heads means they would remember your name properly and not call you 'Weatherbee' all the time. If only because you made yourself more useful than the average paper pusher," said Xanxus seriously.

Hell, it was a requirement to know seven languages in the Varia, which was what he was hoping to take over at some point. Being in charge of the independent assassination squad of the Vongola appealed to him more than CEDEF ever could. And it meant no one would every doubt he was the strongest bastard around... no one messed with the Varia. They called themselves Quality for a reason.

Xanxus wondered why he even said anything, but realized that despite being a bit of a brown noser, the guy hadn't irritated him more than his youngest brother had.

Meh, he would blame Harry for getting him sentimental.

 _A few hours later..._

Xanxus didn't even wake up when the shouting started. Thanks to the charms on their tent, and the fact that the people selected were competent, they slept through the whole disaster without even knowing. Then again if they were actually in danger his Hyper Intuition would have woken him up.

Instead he rolled over and ignored it all.

By morning they found out that someone sent up the "Dark Mark", and had stolen Draco Malfoy's wand to do it.

Lucius Malfoy was _not_ pleased his son lost his wand to a house elf. Even if he did get it back.

* * *

Harry blushed a little bit when Daniela fussed over him, but let her get it out. It was nice to have someone who actually _cared_ about you like this that wasn't trying to smother you at the same time. Xanxus just looked bored, though Harry could tell he was discreetly pleased with the attention too.

Squalo was just irritable since he wouldn't be able to see Xanxus for several weeks.

Finally it was time to go, much to Harry's regret. Though on an impulse he did kiss Daniela's cheek.

"See you on Christmas, Auntie," he said blushing.

Daniela beamed at him.

"You had better~! Otherwise how else will I turn you into the 'present' for my foolish son~!" said Daniela cackling.

That was her "present" for her son, who was the current Don of the Vongola. She knew he was getting very suspicious about what his mother was up to. She was having great fun hiding his cousin from him.

Even his own sons had no idea about Harry just yet! Xanxus was too possessive to even consider the idea of sharing _his_ little brother to his annoying older brothers. They'd just try to take all Harry's time for themselves!

Daniela squealed and hugged Harry one last time. He really was too cute.

 _On the train..._

Xanxus found the first empty compartment, leaned against the window and put his feet up on the cushions like he owned the place once he secured their trunks to the rack above. Harry rolled his eyes and nudged his legs.

Xanxus barely opened his own eyes once he felt the nudge and lifted them enough for Harry to slide under them. Then he went right back to sleep, ignoring everyone while Harry read from one of his new books. While his conversational Italian was good enough, he wanted to be able to read in the language as well.

This was the scene that Hermione and Ron found them in. Ron's face went red as his hair, whether from the scene or embarrassment it was hard to tell.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" demanded Ron.

Xanxus opened up one eye long enough to glare at him.

"Homophobe," he said, before going back to ignoring him.

Harry rolled his own eyes.

"Ron, just take a seat. It's not like Xanxus is going to bother getting up or waking from his nap. He does crap like this all the time," said Harry without bothering to get up.

Hermione watched it all curiously.

"You two seem rather cozy."

"You either learn to take his behavior in stride, or bitch about like his adopted father does all the time. It's easier to humor his moods than is it to get him to change. At least he's honest about how he feels about others," said Harry without looking up.

Xanxus had not taken the news that Timoteo wasn't his biological father well. His DNA simply didn't match.

Fortunately with Harry there to ground him, Xanxus didn't fly off into a complete rage. However he was beyond pissed that the old bastard kept leading him on into believing he had a chance to claim the title of Decimo in the first place.

The only way that would happen would be if all the heirs, _including_ Harry bit the dust.

At least Daniela had told him the truth about the rings being blood locked, rather than lie to him like Timoteo did. Harry didn't get why it was so important that the Ninth hide the fact Xanxus had only been adopted because he was a Sky Flame... or a Wrath, in his case.

Xanxus was going to take over the Varia or die trying. It was the only thing that kept him going outside of having Harry around to keep him sane.

Hermione eyed the two warily.

"You're not on anything, are you Harry? You're too calm about this."

Harry _hated_ it whenever someone was in his personal space. She had noticed that pretty quick, how he shied away from physical contact if he could help it.

And yet his cousin's legs were on his lap and he wasn't even reacting. At all.

"Tch. The reason he's comfortable around me is because we're the same, woman," said Xanxus without opening his eyes.

"You might as well give up on your nap. Hermione is like a dog on a bone sometimes," said Harry, turning the page.

Xanxus was not amused.

"What do you mean you're the same?" said Hermione.

Harry was a sweet, patient, tolerant and kind person.

This "Xanxus" was nothing like that. He was arrogant, conceited and a total jerk!

"He's a survivor. He knows how to take the punches and come up swinging at the bastard who kicked him while he was down. Just. Like. Me," said Xanxus smugly, his smirk all teeth.

She shivered. There was something terrifying about that smirk...it was like looking at a large tiger debating on whether they will eat you or not.

Harry pointedly did not look Hermione in the eye... as if to silently confirm Xanxus' declaration that they were the same.

Hearing the door open, Xanxus smirked even wider.

Draco paled when he saw him.

"What's the matter, _Bad Faith_. Scared of dealing with a real dragon?" he drawled. Harry snorted at the tone alone.

"Real subtle," he said dryly.

"Who cares about subtle? It's about time this little bitch learned his fucking place in the pecking order. Unless you want to deal with the little yapper dog bothering you all the time," said Xanxus.

Harry snickered.

"That actually suits him. One of those useless little lap dogs that make high pitches yapping noises that only look cute and ridiculous rather than intimidating," he said chuckling.

Draco left, completely humiliated without even getting his usual shot in.

Ironically this drew a different Slytherin to the compartment. He took one look at Xanxus, legs still firmly on Harry's lap, and Harry bloody Potter looking perfectly comfortable with the situation despite his known aversion to people invading his personal space.

What he said next however marked him as someone of 'interest' to Xanxus.

"Guardian?" asked Blaize cryptically.

"The eighth's great nephew," clarified Xanxus with a dangerous smirk. Like two great predators sizing each other up.

Which meant Potter was directly related to the Vongola, enough that the former Donna sent the 'bastard son' of the current one to train him. Which meant a very high likelihood Potter was in fact an Active Sky and therefor much more interesting.

Blaize looked at Xanxus and replied in code. "Nuvola, Active."

Xanxus' smirk widened. An active Cloud... one who clearly recognized what he represented. Interesting.

If Harry didn't snag this one (who at least understood subtlety) then he might have to try and get the kid for his own Sky.

Harry did not ask, nor did he particularly care. He just wanted to survive until Christmas so he could go back to Italy for a few weeks and give the old geezers a heart attack when they found out Daniela was bringing in a new element...one no one saw coming and Xanxus was already fond of to the point he treated him like a little brother.


	5. Chapter 5

Harry waited with baited breath for Xanxus to be sorted.

"Xanxus!" announced McGonagall, making everyone wonder A) who the hell would name a kid "Xanxus" of all things, and B) why he had no surname.

The hat took one look in his head...and began howling. This wasn't a deep belly aching laugh of a very amusing joke. This was the sort of laugh you'd get when you realized someone else's day was about to get a hundred times worse and you had the best seat to watching a lot of plans come crumbling down their head!

In short, he had the best seat to watch Dumbledore, Snape and McGonagall's melt down trying to reign in the dragon of the Vongola familigia.

"Gryffindor! And may the gods have mercy on your poor souls!" laughed the hat.

Harry beamed at his cousin/big brother.

"I saved you a seat!" he said, scooting over.

Who cared about the tournament. He had the free entertainment of everyone's reaction to the fact that the 'dragon' as he was already being called for his glare alone was in fact Potter's cousin on his mother's side.

And that the reason he didn't have a surname was because it was instantly recognizable and he didn't want to deal with the sycophants who thought they had a snowball's chance in hell in actually getting anywhere with him.

The second word got out that Xanxus was his cousin on his mother's side (and people could see a strong enough resemblance to believe it), he was almost swarmed by the lions.

Oddly enough, none of them took much offense to his arrogant attitude, language or the fact he looked down on them all.

Xanxus was the "Liger" in the Lion's pride. He wasn't a full lion, but the other Gryffindors could sense the natural power and charisma of a tiger he had.

Xanxus called it "Sky Aura". Harry chalked it up to the fact that Xanxus was definitely a Liger... a cross breed between lion and a tiger... and that was good enough for them. The fact he was so close to their "Golden Boy" meant that they welcomed him with open arms.

Harry couldn't wait to see McGonagall's reaction to Xanxus' swearing habit.

* * *

Xanxus was not a patient person, but for something like this he could wait. He wasn't disappointed when "Blaize" arrived.

"Vongola," he said evenly.

"Zabini. I've heard interesting things about you."

Blaize said nothing. He knew for a fact he had limited to no exposure to the Golden Gryff, so it was unlikely Harry had tainted his opinion of the Slytherin.

He felt Xanxus' Wrath flames rise, but not press. He knew that courting a potential Guardian, particularly Clouds, was a delicate affair. Trying to force it was a guaranteed disaster.

Blaize let his own Flames rise, but that was it.

For a moment nothing happened... the two forces tested each other, sizing each other up. Blaize was rather pleased when he found Xanxus di Vongola was a very good match for his Flames. And his mother had despaired of him finding a decent Sky to rest in.

"What are your goals?" asked Blaize crisply.

"Varia or nothing. The status of Decimo is beyond my reach, but I _will_ acquire the title of Varia Sky," said Xanxus without hesitation.

"Acceptable," said Blaize. He could live with being the Varia Cloud officer. It meant a lot of the 'lessons' his mother gave him on how to kill her "poor husbands" would be put to good use.

Xanxus grunted, and the two departed. Now they could focus on the delicate courtship state between a Sky and a Cloud. If he failed, then there was always the chance Harry could snag this guy.

The first thing Harry said when Xanxus came back was...

"What exactly were you doing with Blaize in Fluffy's old room?"

"...How do you know who I was with, where I was, and who the hell is Fluffy?" asked Xanxus.

Harry held up an odd scrap of parchment.

"Marauder's Map. Shows almost everyone in the school and where they are real time, as well as most of the hidden passages."

"And Fluffy?"

"Hagrid's pet Cerberus. I'm sure if you asked he'd be happy to let you meet him," said Harry.

"Who the fuck names a Cerberus _'Fluffy'?"_

"Can you imagine Squalo's reaction to an actual Cerberus?"

Xanxus' annoyance at Harry hiding such a useful thing died at that. His grin was evil.

"So what were you up to with Blaize anyway?"

" _Guardian courtship. Kid's a strong Cloud... enough that he might be able to match my Flames. Wasn't expecting to find something like that coming here, but I'm not complaining,"_ said Xanxus in Italian.

Harry promptly switched as well.

" _Who do you think I should look for?"_

" _You're a blank slate right now brat. But... those twins you seem to treat like brothers would be a good start. Not entirely sure what they are yet, but I'd bet on Mist at least, easily."_

* * *

 _The next morning..._

Xanxus made a discreet appraisal of the Flames in the school... and was left sorely disappointed.

There were only a few worth cultivating or looked even remotely interesting.

So it took him a second to realize that an odd blond girl had skipped up to where he was sitting. She had the blue/bronze of the smart guys. Raven-something.

"I didn't know dragons could also use magic. The nargles seem to avoid you completely," she said happily.

"Nargles?" repeated Xanxus, eyeing her up. He could feel she was Active, though he'd never seen a Cloud _this_ loopy before. She probably had a Mist secondary or something.

"They make your brain so fuzzy that you'd believe anything. But it seems your Wrath drives them off," she said pleasantly. "Be careful that the old Sky doesn't try to subvert you like he does all the others. The cat is one of his most important pawns."

Translation: be wary of Dumbledore, he's a Sky as well and McGonagall was one of his Guardians.

Xanxus grinned, full of teeth.

"For a Cloud who has been drifting around, you certainly pay attention to the ground a lot."

She smiled at him.

"The Mists are very useful in misdirecting people away from the obvious, wouldn't you agree? Be careful though... the false general who leads from the shadows has plans for your nest mate."

The old Sky had plans for his little brother did he?

Xanxus' grin was cold.

"Don't you know it's not wise to tickle a sleeping dragon?" he replied.

She hummed in agreement.

"If the Black Widow's son doesn't work out, I am called Luna Lovegood," she replied, skipping over to her table to get her schedule.

Xanxus scanned his own. There was a ridiculously low number of classes for a castle of this size. He had a few classes with his little brother, but instead of wasting his time with Divination he went with Ancient Runes and Arithimancy. Though he was somewhat curious what sort of animals this "Hagrid" would bring to the Care of Magical Creatures class.

"So you're in my class? Good thing you didn't pick divination," said Hermione.

"If I wanted to divine from animal parts or crystal balls, I'd waste time on a fortune teller. Besides, from what Harry told me the teacher is trash with only a minor drop of actual talent," said Xanxus gruffly.

"Must you be so rude all the time?" huffed Hermione.

"Leave it be Hermione. Xanxus is more of a dragon than Draco could ever hope to be. You can't exactly force a liger to change it's stripes just because it's actions offend you," said Harry.

"What's a liger?" asked Ron, already stuffing his face.

"It's a cross breed between a male lion and a female tiger," said Hermione promptly.

"Personally I can't wait to see how McGonagall reacts to him. He doesn't exactly have a _filter_ when it comes to his language," said Harry grinning.

"Who gives a fuck about points and shit? Not like we get to keep the trophy, and besides I'm a _probationary_ student anyway. Means they can't kick me out until the end of the year," said Xanxus.

"But they could ban you from coming back," said Hermione.

"And? I only came here to see exactly what sort of school this is and whether or not it's good enough for my little brother here. Considering what little he shared with Nonna she had major doubts of letting him come back in the first place," said Xanxus flatly. "Depending on how the year goes he'll probably move to Italy with us and get home tutors."

"Wait, what?!" said Hermione shocked.

Xanxus gave her a one-eyed glare.

"Nonna is registered as his magical _and_ legal guardian. Since she's the last close blood relative he has, that means she gets final say on his education. And considering the available class list... I'd say the odds of him _staying_ here next year are dropping," said Xanxus flatly.

"Harry, is this true?" asked Neville nervously.

"What's wrong with the class list?" demanded Hermione.

"My great aunt on my mother's side agreed to take me in, since my mother's half-sister didn't want anything to do with me or my magic. In fact according to Auntie I never should have gone to the Dursleys in the first place. There were no adoption forms and they were never contacted by any barristers to arrange custody of me in either world. From what told to her, I was dumped on the doorstep with the milk with only a thin blanket in a basket with a note. They didn't even get a chance to choose whether or not they wanted me in the first place," said Harry flatly.

"As for the class list... look at it! There's hardly anything _on_ the list to pick from! Not only that, but it's completely missing basic classes like world history, science, maths, economics and English! Hell, there aren't even any foreign languages to chose from, and isn't this trash school supposed to be hosting _foreign_ students from other countries? How the fuck are you supposed to know what they're saying if you don't understand their native languages!" ranted Xanxus. "I bet the new bloods come here thinking the school is great... until they graduate and realize the hole they've dug themselves into without bothering to study for their high school diplomas or the A-Levels!"

Hermione wanted to dispute his claim... but she sadly agreed with him. If she wasn't the sort to study other subjects once her magical homework was done she would be woefully under-prepared for life outside the magical enclaves.

Judging from the looks on the faces of her fellow muggleborns (Xanxus hadn't bothered to lower his voice about his dislike of so few classes, so quite a few heard him rant) the realization that there wasn't any way for them to study _non-magical_ subjects in Hogwarts and be able to take their A-Levels was coming as an unpleasant surprise. Especially to the seventh years who realized how little time they had left until they had to find jobs.

And considering how prejudice the school and Ministry were to anyone who wasn't fully human and pure blood, their odds of finding a job to support themselves decreased dramatically.

Harry had a sudden idea for some quick cash.

He waited until after classes to share it with Xanxus though.

"How hard do you think it would be for Auntie to send several copies of basic high school text books and a few time turners...?" said Harry grinning.

"What do you have in mind, runt?"

"It's like you said... Hogwarts does nothing to prepare the new bloods for the real world once they leave. And the shop owners aren't suddenly going to change their hiring practices, never mind the Ministry. So... what if we started a private study group and charged for the use of time turners so that the fifth years and above could prepare to get a real education and still be able to study magic?"

"I like it. It earns money _and_ it means they owe you one for helping them out. Favors to be repaid later and all that. And if we start some minor schools where those who already graduated could earn their diplomas and give them some minor jobs on the side to earn cash..." said Xanxus, rubbing his chin and grinning.

"Expand our influence, add some clean cash on the side and earn the favor of several trained magicals," said Harry. "All for filling a gap that has been there for decades without anyone bothering to do something about it."

"Now you're thinking like a Vongola," said Xanxus grinning. Harry beamed at him. "Let's put that little empress of yours to work."

Hedwig was off with Harry's suggestion/plan. It wasn't like he needed her to deliver letters to Daniela, since he still had the two-way diary.

Xanxus was somewhat pleased with coming to this pathetic school. While he didn't care about learning magic or having to deal with the weak trash in it, it was a hidden gem when it came to Quality.

Clouds were notoriously difficult to locate, much less harmonize with. And yet by coming here he found a gem in the rough, ready and more than happy to plot the demise of anyone who pissed him off.

Blaize Zabini was a very 'cold' customer...then again he was raised by a woman who was quite literally a black widow of the magical world. To him, lives were nothing in comparison to his own goals.

Well, that suited Xanxus just fine. So long as the fucker was loyal and followed him, he could care less what his hobbies were or what he did in his spare time.

Blaize seemed rather pleased with the fact his Flames were able to match Xanxus so easily. The two of them were very pragmatic and goal oriented. So long as Xanxus respected his 'territory', Blaize wouldn't mind being his Cloud.

Xanxus has strength, connections, power and an unyielding personality. He had a clear goal he was working towards, and didn't give a damn what people thought about him.

In short, he was the sort of Sky Blaize could respect.

Daniela was definitely pleased that her grandson had managed to find such an interesting Cloud in the school.

As for Harry's Guardians...

"Harry... are you dating Luna Lovegood?" asked Hermione slowly.

Harry blushed.

"No!"

"Then why is she hanging around our table and nowhere near Ginny? If you are dating then it's fine to say so, but for your own sake you had better not be stringing the girl along," said Hermione slowly, fingering her wand.

Harry banged his head against the table.

"It's part of the family magics I got from my great-aunt's family. We naturally call people to us, preferably of equal resolve and strength," said Harry exasperated. "Luna's just one of those who have the potential to end up in the 'inner circle' so to speak."

"...So you're not dating?" said Ron seriously, shooting glances to an irate Ginny. It wasn't a secret she wanted to become the next Lady Potter, and was being discreetly groomed for such a position with her mother's attitude.

"Ron, I have no interest in _dating_ anyone from England," said Harry bluntly. "How many times have I only had you or Hermione to stand by my side when the school was in danger? Let's not forget second year when everyone turned on me because of some gift I had no idea was thought to be evil because of a few idiots who had it as well. And don't get me started on the inbreeding issue... I don't want to risk marrying anyone who could be one of my extended cousins!"

Harry shuddered at the mere thought of such a thing happening.

"What's inbreeding?" asked Ron.

Harry beat Hermione to the explanation.

"Ron, do you know why the Egyptian pharaohs died off so easily?" asked Harry.

"Bill said that it had something to do with their magic being unstable and killing them," said Ron.

"In ancient Egypt there was a pharaoh named Tutankhamen. Or King Tut as he's also known. He was about our age when he died...and he ruled Egypt with his step-mother's help. However he left behind no heirs... do you know why?"

"Because his wife couldn't have them?"

"Actually she had a few daughters, but they didn't survive," said Hermione.

"It was because he married his half-sister. See his step mother was also his aunt, and she was related to his father...which meant that when he married her daughter, his half-sister, their magic was too weak to sustain life and thus their children died. It was a fairly common practice back in those days for the pharaohs to marry their own sisters or close family members, thinking that it would keep the royal bloodline strong. Except by doing that they gave birth to children who were very weak and unable to survive. You need to add different bloodlines for your descendants to thrive."

"King Tut's children died at birth because their parents were too closely related for them to survive," nodded Hermione. "Their bodies were unable to sustain themselves outside their mother's womb, and thus they died easily of disease."

"Which is one of the reasons why inbreeding is a bad idea. Marrying someone from a different branch of the family _might_ be acceptable so long as the common ancestor is from at least seven generations on both sides, but marry people with multiple ancestors from the same stock is only making you _weaker_ , not stronger. Which makes this whole blood purity fascination that the English enclaves have completely ridiculous. If they want to marry a 'pure blood' they would be better off marrying someone from another country, rather than close to home. At least then the odds of having a common ancestor would drop dramatically," said Harry.

He didn't care about the fact that because he didn't bother to drop his voice, several of the "old blood" families over heard the conversation. And since he used such a well known example on the dangers of inbreeding, the new bloods were more than happy to point out several other examples where marrying the bloodlines too closely damaged the children that resulted of it... though most used animal breeding as opposed to the Egyptian example.


	6. Chapter 6

Harry was on the edge of his seat in eager anticipation. The reason was pretty simple really... Xanxus had been clashing with McGonagall for _days_ now on several things (mostly his language and attitude towards the other students), and it had finally reached it's breaking point.

"That is it! Probationary student or not, you will serve a detention for the next month for your attitude!" snarled McGonagall.

"Make me, you old cat!" said Xanxus with a sneer.

You could practically _see_ their magical auras (or in Harry's case, their Flames) flaring.

Behind Xanxus was a great dragon with the stripes of a tiger and a mane like a lion. It was a massive beast that wasn't even full grown, but was already powerful enough to take down the strongest fighters in the school.

McGonagall was decent enough, but there was no way her chained lioness would match him outright. She might have the honed mind of experience and actual combat, but her ability to use it dropped significantly since she had been stuck in a teaching role and out of active combat. On top of that was the fact her instincts would automatically shy away from lethal attacks both because of her Sky and the fact Xanxus was one of her students and a temporary cub.

In a fight between them, there was an even sixty-forty chance of McGonagall beating his cousin. However Xanxus was not an honorable fighter... he was born in the slums and had to fight to survive for years to keep his mother and him fed when her 'customers' shorted her, on top of the usual drug-addicts and slum lords who wouldn't hesitate to kill anyone who opposed them.

It was one of the main reasons he kept butting heads with his adopted father...Xanxus was a feral liger cub that had grown up fighting for everything he had, and they suddenly expected him to act like a lion that had been pampered and raised with a full pride to keep him safe.

Which wasn't going to happen. He could fake it, but anyone could tell he wasn't some pampered prince like Timoteo's real sons.

Everyone stopped what they were doing to watch the epic showdown.

"What is going on here?" demanded Dumbledore. He could feel the flaring from his office.

"McGonagall is finally calling out Xanxus on his language and his attitude. Frankly I'm surprised she didn't snap sooner... then again he's used to being reprimanded from his adopted father about this sort of thing," said Harry without bothering to turn away.

To the shock and disbelief of the students, McGonagall backed down first.

"Tch. Well at least you're not some weak trash like half of my other tutors," said Xanxus. Which was as close to "respectful" as he planned to get.

Dumbledore was not happy.

McGonagall was _pissed_.

"Professor McGonagall, you'd be better off giving it up as a bad job," said Harry.

"And why, Mr. Potter, have you done nothing to curb your _cousin's_ language?" she said icily. It wasn't a secret that Xanxus favored his cousin to the point he at least _listened_ to him.

"Because I really don't care?" said Harry in a sarcastic, blunt tone. "Because quite frankly the fact you're making such a big deal about his language and attitude while doing nothing to curb the bullying issue in the school makes me less inclined to make _your_ job easier?"

Dead silence.

"And really, who actually cares about his swearing habit or the fact he calls everyone 'trash' except for a select few at this point. Name one person who still takes offense to it outside of the teachers!"

"...You know he has a point," said Fred.

"Yeah, I've learned to tune out his swearing and the comments he makes about us being 'trash' by this point," said Angelina.

"He does it to everyone," said George. "The only one he actually likes is Harry."

McGonagall was in disbelief. She looked to the pure bloods, only to find zero support from that end as well.

Then again she was unaware of the fact that Blaize had been discreetly spreading how influential and powerful Xanxus' family was in the shadows among the pure bloods. No one was going to piss off someone who was known to be from an Ancient and Noble family so strong that even if they married a muggle they were still considered pure so long as the family magicks were present in the head and heir of the family.

Compared to the Vongola, even Malfoy was a small fry. A fact that pissed him off immensely.

Mostly because by admitting he _had_ inherited the family magicks, that Potter was now a pure blood of much higher standing than Draco could hope to be. Which meant Harry could rank Draco if he annoyed the other boy further.

So yeah, the fact Xanxus had a habit of swearing almost _every_ sentence and called most of the school "trash" was quickly swept under the rug when people realized after a week of it that it was just how he talked and that he didn't mean anything by it.

"To be honest I think the only ones that actually care about his habit of swearing and uncouth language after a week of hearing it constantly are people of 'distinguished age' such as yourself," said Harry with an innocent smile.

You could literally hear the wind whistling past as no one dared to breath once they realized that Harry Potter, Gryffindor's Golden Boy, had just called Minerva McGonagall _old_ to her face. His father was likely howling with laughter or fearing for his son at this moment.

(In Venice, Sirius had the sudden urge to laugh and whimper at the same time. It was a very strange feeling.)

"Balls of fucking steel," said Xanxus with approval. He was sure that when Harry met Coyote, the Ninth's Storm, it was going to be explosive as hell.

Unsurprisingly it was Hermione who at least gave McGonagall an out to save face.

"Professor, if it really bothers you that much then why don't you just request that he use a different language while swearing?" she asked. "At least then the first years won't immediately recognize what he's actually saying and it would inspire them to actually _learn_ something that could prove useful long term. I know for a fact he's fluent in Italian, which isn't readily spoken around here."

McGonagall huffed, pushing up her glasses without daring to verbally concede defeat in front of so many students.

"Very well. I shall _ignore_ your deplorable habit provided you do not use English when doing so. However Ms. Granger I am rather surprised you are so calm. I would have expected my best student to at least reprimand him before now. You correct Mr. Weasley on a regular basis whenever he uses such coarse language."

Hermione was unfazed by the comment.

"Xanxus, unlike Ronald, is at least _consistent_ with his sniping comments and swearing. At this point I've become so used to hearing it that it doesn't properly register anymore, and he at least doesn't direct it at anyone specifically unless they've done something to warrant it. He hates everyone equally save for Harry and he makes no excuses for it," she replied without hesitation.

Xanxus didn't care if you were a "new blood" (which she found was far less derogatory than "muggleborn"), an "old blood" or a mix of the two. He automatically considered everyone "trash" except for Harry unless they proved to him they were better. The only reason she tolerated it was because he was consistent in his open disdain of everyone and never once went after anyone simply because of what family they were born to. He also didn't bother bragging about the fact he was Harry's cousin or that he came from a rich, established family like Malfoy did.

So no, Hermione didn't have a problem with his swearing...mostly because Xanxus made a deal to help her refine some of the few foreign languages she knew so that she could become fluent in them. He had a knack for them himself, so it was a small price to pay.

* * *

"VOI! This place is annoying!"

"Shut up, shark trash. What have you got for us?" asked Xanxus.

Squalo brought out a massive trunk. Inside were at least twenty books for five different high school subjects. There were at least two different text books per subject, with ten copies each. There were also two time turners, one for Xanxus and Harry both.

"Why do you need something as ridiculous as this anyway?"

"Just a hunch that we can exploit a void in the education system here to make a lot of cash in a very short time," said Harry.

"The classes here are pathetic. They don't even bother with the normal subjects and the variety you can chose from is barely worth mentioning. And don't get me started on the teachers..." said Xanxus in disgust.

"Look on the bright side... at least here they don't care about selling whiskey to teenagers," said Harry.

"Say what now?" said Xanxus, looking at Harry with an intense gaze.

"You can order firewhiskey from the pub or go down to the Hog's Head Tavern. I heard from the twins that the owner of that bar doesn't care about age so long as you've got the coin for it," said Harry slowly.

"... I am so stocking up before we leave this trash school," said Xanxus flatly.

He always felt like drinking after dealing with his 'father', but the old man had set an age limit of over eighteen before he was allowed anything more than two glasses of wine during meals. And it was always the low-proof crap.

Daniela thought that if he got a hangover then it was his own damn fault and he should learn from it the hard way.

So if he could stock up here and hide it, then he wouldn't have to deal with the old man or that asshole Coyote sober again.

Harry looked at Xanxus.

"Is dealing with him really that bad?"

"Actually I'm pretty sure he just hates Coyote, the old man's Storm. He's really big on traditions and not rocking the boat," said Squalo.

"One of those 'this is how we have always done things, so if you don't like it I'll fight you every step of the way' types, huh?"

"Exactly," said Squalo. "How did you know?"

Harry waved his hand around Hogsmeade.

"..."

The two shared a look and conceded his point. The English enclaves were firmly in the dark ages when it came to new things, and it was pretty clear the old bastards in power wanted to keep things the way they were for as long as possible.

Which would explain the low standards of the castle and why there wasn't anything resembling normal subjects.

"Voi... you're not coming back next year, are you? This long distance thing is killing me," said Squalo.

"Hell no," said Harry without hesitation. "Especially if they try to lure me into another death trap like the last three years."

"Good thing that Lightning girl found the original rule book," said Xanxus.

With Harry's luck there was every chance he would end up in this stupid tournament against his will. Which made things complicated because champions "traditionally" opened up the ball that happened along with the tournament.

A ball that happened right before Christmas break.

McGonagall had jumped at the chance to be rid of Xanxus over Christmas... so much so she didn't notice Harry's name under his. It meant they could attend the ball and be there in time for the Vongola Christmas Party.

Daniela was particularly eager to go this year because she was going to introduce her nephew to the entire family. She couldn't wait to give her son a heart attack from shock, learning there was yet another heir to the family and it was his cousin.

As it was, Harry had a new suit that was tailored specifically for him to wear to the ball and another for the Christmas party.

Harry let Xanxus wander around Hogsmeade with his Rain. He looked a lot less agitated with Squalo around, which was only natural. He almost jumped when he felt an arm loop around his own and hug it tightly to a very feminine chest.

It took him a few seconds to register it was Luna.

"Ah. You want to wander the village with me, little Cloud?" he asked carefully.

She nodded.

"Your Sky is really warm and bright. I want to drift here forever," she said happily.

Harry patted her on the head.

"Tell you what... how about you act as my date to the Vongola party? That way I get to enjoy the night with someone I can stand and you get to have fun too," said Harry. "Just don't go bragging about it... the last thing we need is for my fan club to start a riot once they find out."

Luna nodded happily, just enjoying the feel of Harry's Sky.

"...Are you sure you're not dating Luna?" asked Hermione. They had wandered into the Three Broomsticks and ended up cornered by an amused Hermione and a seething Ronald.

"What do you see in Loony Lovegood anyway?" demanded Ronald.

"Luna is Luna, and we're not dating. Like I said before, the family magics of my grandfather's family tend to draw people to those who can use it correctly. I believe Auntie likened it to 'spiritual glue'. Those that can match the 'wave output' of my magic tend to stick the closest."

"...I really don't like the sound of that," said Hermione frowning. It sounded invasive.

Harry sighed.

"It's like this... my magic will draw people in to act as 'knights' of sorts as a self-defense mechanism. Only those compatible with it will hear the 'call' and be drawn in without me having to do anything. In exchange I provide a sort of anchor for their magic."

"What kind of anchor?"

"The same kind that comes from a king and his knights. They protect him and in exchange he gives them purpose and a place to come back to," said Xanxus.

"Voi. This place is ridiculous," said Squalo.

"Harry... who is this?"

"His name is Squalo and he's Xanxus' knight, in a sense. Also his right hand man and his best friend. I would have thought you'd remember him...he was with us at the World Cup."

"Basically the family magics bring people together with one person acting as the 'leader' of the group. This person creates a sort of feeling that keeps the group grounded, and in exchange they provide protection from external threats. It's a symbiotic relationship, much like house elves and the land they live on."

"What."

"House elves get magic from the leylines in the land. It's just that wizards tend to get real snippy about their homes so a compromise was reached...except at some point the house elves forgot they don't need wizards to survive and lost the ability to draw the magic directly," said Xanxus. "And unless you somehow figured out how to help them reconnect properly to the magic of the earth..."

"It would be like taking a child who has only ever known the life of a servant and suddenly making them a noble and expecting them to understand all the rules," said Harry, shaking his head.

Hermione looked displeased, but at least she understood the analogy.

"Wait... does this mean you're dating Loony Luna or not?" asked Ron.

"Ron, there is no chance in hell I would date your sister. In case you've forgotten I consider the twins to be family, which automatically puts Ginny firmly in the 'little sister' category. Besides, she looks and acts way too much of what little I know about my mother for me to feel even remotely comfortable dating her," said Harry flatly.

Ron didn't look too happy hearing that, but wisely kept his mouth shut.

"So why haven't we seen you friend here in school?" asked Hermione, changing the subject.

"Voi! I go to a different private school in Italy. Boss had to contend with crappy tutors who couldn't keep up and complained to the old man about his attitude problem all the time," said Squalo.

"How did Daniela convince you to join me here anyway?" asked Harry.

"I get to avoid the old man for months, spend time with my favorite little brother _and_ I was promised that I could take the gunsmithing classes I've been trying to get into for months. The old bastard kept putting it off," said Xanxus.

Squalo snickered.

"More like Daniela stopped badgering her son in exchange for him 'sacrificing' the Boss. He gets peace and quiet from his mother and Xanxus gets to avoid the main house with those old geezers," said Squalo snickering. "I can't wait until Christmas when she introduces the runt to the main family and they find out that a new heir popped out of the woodworks!"

"Wait... they don't know you're an heir yet?" said Hermione in shock.

"Nope. Auntie wanted to spring it on her son during Christmas as a surprise. She enjoys pulling pranks on her son now that she's retired... she likes keeping him on his toes," said Harry smugly.

"Speaking of surprises... a certain mutt was finally spotted and picked up in Florence. Daniela plans to give him the riot act while she's fixing him back up because he didn't do his job right," said Squalo.

"I do not want to be in Padfoot's shoes then," said Harry dryly.


	7. Chapter 7

Luna was cheerfully snuggling up against Harry, who didn't even register her presence in his personal space anymore. It was clear she was very lonely and just wanted a friend.

Xanxus snorted when he saw her with his little brother. The girl was already Active and drawn to Harry's Sky. By the time Christmas came around they would have a full bond.

The twins just needed the push to become Active themselves before their bond was formed.

Ron did not look happy seeing Luna so close to Harry. But he kept his mouth shut for the moment, too scared of Xanxus to say anything.

If the Hogwarts students vaguely recognized Xanxus on sight, it was _nothing_ compared to how the French and Bulgarian students reacted to him.

Karkaroff, who had been _so_ smug about bringing Viktor Krum to hopefully be chosen as champion, stopped cold and looked _directly_ at a widely grinning Xanxus.

His face paled rather impressively when he got a better look at the boy under the candlelight. He wasn't the only one having a minor break down when the red-eyed teen was recognized.

Quite a few of the students he brought along shared looks before quietly confirming that the boy with the feathers and coon tail in his hair was in fact Xanxus.

Several of them were re-evaluating the potential worth of the Boy-Who-Lived when Blaize not-so-discreetly dropped that Harry Potter was in fact directly related to the current main family through his grandfather, who was the previous head's younger brother. And that the woman had confirmed Potter had inherited the family magics.

The French girls recognized Xanxus for similar reasons, though they were a lot more leery of approaching him. He had something of a reputation in the upper echelons. A reputation that was confirmed rather quickly by the Ravenclaws.

"I guess this means you can't swear in French anymore," joked Harry.

"Feh, still leaves me Russian, Spanish, and Italian," Xanxus countered.

"Don't forget Latin."

"Why are the Durmstrang students looking at our table like that?" asked Hermione.

"They probably recognize me. Not my fault that it was mostly the old bloods that knew who I was on sight... at least the snakes anyway," said Xanxus gruffly.

"Is your family really that famous?"

Harry started coughing on his drink.

"Hermione, if you had recognized him on sight I would have had serious questions about what exactly you haven't been telling us about your family or your parents," said Harry when he cleared his throat. "Or for that matter what sort of hobbies you could have."

"What does _that_ mean?"

"Let me put it this way... our family has a firm view of the law. As in it's legal so long as the cops don't find out or bother us about it," said Harry.

"Close enough," said Xanxus grinning, ruffling Harry's head.

"Harry, you can't be serious!" said Hermione appalled.

"Why on earth would I want to be Sirius? Considering what I know of Auntie she's probably still giving him the riot act while acting like a total mother hen," said Harry without hesitation. Xanxus let out a loud bark of laughter.

"She would!" he said, cracking up. "And that was a horrible pun."

"Why thank you," said Harry, unashamed.

The second Harry heard about the age line and that the champions would have twenty-four hours to put their names in before Halloween (his least favorite holiday), his eyes grew cold and annoyed.

"...Xanxus, what would you say to guarding that damn cup and hexing anyone over the age of seventeen that gets near the thing and looks even remotely shady."

Considering Harry's luck on Halloween for the past three years, he didn't even have to think about it.

"We'll take shifts," he agreed.

* * *

 **Clang!**

**Thud!**

Harry looked dispassionately at the unconscious form of the DADA sacri...er, _teacher_ for the year.

"You owe me fifty pounds," he said to Xanxus.

Xanxus grumbled and pulled out his wallet, before handing over the money.

"Fucking hell... I thought you were kidding when you said you had a record with the temporary staff," said Xanxus. He could care less about the idiot who got his ass caught by a half-trained fourteen year old brat. "Where'd you get that skillet anyway?"

"I borrowed it from the house elves, where else? Not like I know a spell to transfigure a cast iron skillet to brain someone with," deadpanned Harry. "Now... what do we do with this trash?"

Xanxus grinned.

"I may have a few ideas. These elf friends of yours know a good place to interrogate someone?"

"Dobby!"

With a light pop, the odd elf appeared.

"Yous called for Dobby?" he asked rather eagerly.

"Do you know of anywhere we could interrogate this idiot and find out what the big plan was without interruption? Preferably somewhere away from the dungeons... I don't want to run afoul of any wards Snape has set for amorous students, let alone risk running into Filch."

Dobby nodded quickly, his ears flapping this way and that.

"I knows a place! We elves calls it the Come and Go room!"

"Can you show us where it is?" asked Xanxus gruffly.

Dobby did better than that, he took them straight there.

"Just walk past three times by this portrait with an image of what you want, and the door will appear!"

"Ho... Let's check it out then. Good thing I have the map on me along with the cloak."

Once, twice, thrice...a dungeon style doorway appeared and Xanxus whistled when he saw what was inside.

"Now I really have to question your reading habits. What the hell is that thing anyway?" asked Xanxus.

"Scavenger's Daughter. Think a watermelon with one too many rubber bands pulled over the middle, except his guts are the melon and this is the rubber band," said Harry grinning.

"Uh-huh. And the bull-thing with a fire pit under it?"

"Can't really recall the name of what that thing is called, but the basic gist of it is that you throw some poor bastard inside, set the fire and let him slow roast until he dies," said Harry without hesitation.

"Again, I am seriously questioning your reading habits."

"Actually there was a book on medieval and old-school torture methods in Auntie's library. I think she was using it as a reference for something because there were a few pages bookmarked. It looked interesting enough."

Xanxus thought that one over. Either she was bored and wanted to give the Ninth nightmares of what his mother got up to now that she was retired or she wanted to get really creative and possibly ironic when it came to disposing of the idiots who had hurt Harry in some way.

Either way, not his problem unless she wanted to make a family bonding moment out of it where they disposed the bodies together.

Moody, or whoever the hell he was, certainly didn't expect to be caught so easily.

"...Bloody hell, when did the Doctor turn evil?!" said Harry in horror and disbelief.

"For the love of... _Doctor Who_ is a TV show and everyone knows that they recently switched to Matt Smith, idiota," said Xanxus facepalming.

"Really? But still... this guy looks way too freaking much like David Tennant," said Harry.

"I'll concede that. Now... are we going to get some answers from this trash or not?" asked Xanxus, cracking his knuckles.

Perhaps it was the lighting, or the fact that Potter seemed so openly bloodthirsty... but Barty Crouch Jr. had a sudden premonition of pain and death his way.

"Runt... what's this tattoo on his arm?" asked Xanxus, noticing something on the guy's left arm.

Harry blinked, took one look at it before a cold smile came across his face.

"You know what I found very fascinating last year?"

"What's that?"

"The fact everyone seems to forget so quickly that I'm not just a Potter... I'm also related to Bellatrix fucking Lestrange. I'm sure a _Death Eater_ can understand what I'm getting at here, correct? Especially since my grandmother Dorea was Bellatrix's aunt."

Barty Crouch Jr. paled very quickly at the blatant reminder. Something things ran blood deep... like the madness that ran through the Black family's veins.

"Bloody hell. I'm fucked, aren't I?" he asked bluntly.

"Yes. Yes you are. Maybe if you're lucky we might spare you to serve as a messenger to this twit you call a Lord."

"What message?" said Barty.

"Don't fuck with the Vongola, trash," said Xanxus with a sneer.

It was a good thing there were several silencing wards around the room... the amount of screaming the Death Eater let off would have drawn far too much attention from the adults...especially the bleeding heart known as Dumbledore.

* * *

"Anyone notice something strange about Professor Moody?" asked Hermione.

"You mean outside of the fact he looks pretty pissed off about something and keeps grumbling about falling standards?" asked Neville.

Hermione whipped her head towards the normally timid boy who shrugged.

"I blame Xanxus. If he can get away with swearing then why can't the rest of us?"

She muttered dark things under her breath at that.

"Good morning!" said Harry rather cheerfully.

"What's got you so cheerful?" asked Hermione.

"Won fifty pounds off Xanxus last night over something rather silly. Once is a coincidence, but three times is a pattern and I'm not stupid enough to sit and wait for it."

"Harry, the DADA teacher is not out to get you and your luck does not get worse during Halloween," said Hermione exasperated.

"If that's true, then why does Professor Moody look so ticked off with Professor Dumbledore and the others at the moment?" countered Harry.

Hermione looked and he wasn't kidding. Moody was giving Dumbledore some rather foul looks in his direction.

 _With Moody and the other teachers..._

"How long would you say we've been friends Albus?"

"Give or take twenty years at least, why?"

"Then why the bloody hell didn't you notice a damn impostor with Polyjuice taking my place in your bloody castle?!"

Dumbledore choked.

"What?"

"Last night two Gryffs came into the damn classroom and got me out of the trunk that damn Death Eater had me in so he could use me as ingredients for the Polyjuice. One of them was rather flippant about being related to Bellatrix Lestrange and how I should have practice Constant Vigilance!" hissed Moody.

"Are you feeling alright, Alastor?" asked Dumbledore hurriedly.

Moody seethed.

"Which students?" asked Flitwick.

"Two brats from the Vongola clan in Italy," said Moody petulantly. "Never thought I'd end up owing _them_ a favor."

"Vongola?" repeated McGonagall. She wasn't familiar with that family.

"If you know of it then you know that getting on their bad side is a very idiot and suicidal idea," said Moody flatly. "They've got more power than the entire Ministry and the old families put together... and that's _before_ you bring in the Alliance."

McGonagall blinked before she groaned exasperated.

"Was one of the lions that saved you a fourteen year old with feathers in his hair and red eyes?"

"Aye, though he followed another. He seemed more disinterested than anything compared to the brat who openly admitted that he was related to Lestrange."

Snape choked on his drink. Flitwick helpfully patted him on the back, though he had a pained look on his face as well.

"I seems we all keep forgetting he's not just a Potter...he's directly related to the Black family as well," said Flitwick with sympathy. "I think it best we not ask what he did to the Death Eater, though at least he took initiative rather than wait for yet another mess to spring up."

"Took initiative?" repeated Moody.

"For the past three years, young Mr. Potter seems to have somehow ended up in adventures by the time Halloween rolls around. And every time the Defense teacher is involved, either directly or indirectly. In fact I dare say he's part of the reason we haven't been able to keep any of the last three teachers, though Lupin only resigned because _someone_ let it slip about his condition," said McGonagall with a pained expression, shooting a glare at Snape.

Moody, rather than look annoyed at this, seemed to approve. Once was a coincidence, twice is bad luck, but three times was a pattern and clearly the boy knew that.

"Hmph. Seems I'll have some interesting assistants while I teach."

Like hell was he going to let the two cocky bastards who let him out and showed him the body of the idiot who captured him get away with being just students. If they were half as strong as he suspected, they'd learn more from being teaching assistants than students.

Besides, he hated paperwork.

"Teaching assistants! You're so lucky!" said Hermione.

"He said if we're skilled enough to handle a Death Eater with barely any training, then there's no reason we should waste our time with homework when we could be really learning something," said Xanxus.

"What."

"The guy who thought it was acceptable to cast all three Unforgiveables in class and even used the Imperius on us is a former Death Eater."

Hermione stiffened.

"WHAT?!"

"On top of that he apparently planned to enter me illegally in the tournament as a fourth champion. Unfortunately for him, I took matters into my own hands to avoid that fate," said Harry amused.

"Harry... what did you do?" demanded Hermione.

"Hit him really hard over the head with a skillet I borrowed from the house elves, then sent him to the DMLE," said Harry without hesitation. Which was half true.

The only reason they didn't tie his feet up and dump him in the lake was because he was sure the Bulgarians would have noticed it and he wasn't entirely sure on whether mermaids were real. Odds were that if they did exist (which was a high probability) then there would be some in the Black Lake...and they didn't have any concrete or proper chains to make sure that the idiot drowned.

Well...that and Xanxus immediately bitched about it being way too damn cliché for someone in a mafia family. Maybe if it hadn't been so popularized by the movies.

That seemed to appease Hermione, even if she didn't believe it for a second.

"Then why haven't I heard anything about a Death Eater being caught?"

"Hermione, think for a moment. Do you really expect the Ministry to want it to get out that a _student_ caught a known Death Eater who was SUPPOSED to be in or rotting around Azkaban in the middle of Hogwarts during such an important event?" said Harry slowly. "They're still trying to deal with Sirius, after all."

"Point," she conceded. If they had sent the Death Eater to the Ministry, then there was no way they'd say anything in the Prophet. It would make them lose a lost of face.

As it was, Barty had been cheerfully sent via an illegal portkey to Daniela for her to play with. Since he knew she had been researching torture methods Harry was sure she'd like a live toy to play with.

Harry wasn't sure to be pleased or offended when Barty Crouch Jr. said that he would fit right at home with the Black family...he was just as ruthless and creative as Bellatrix at her worst, just far more sane.


	8. Chapter 8

"The champion for Hogwarts will be... Cedric Diggory!"

The goblet flared once before it died out. Harry felt a sigh of relief go through him.

"Thank god," he said with open relief.

"Aren't you disappointed?" asked Ron.

"Ron... why would I be disappointed? I have no need to be in the tournament to begin with... I'm already famous to the point people won't leave me the hell alone, I'm the heir to two ancient and noble houses and don't really need the gold, and I have no need for the headaches that come with being a champion. At least this way I can leave without anyone bitching about it after the ball on Christmas."

"Ball? What ball?" said Lavender.

"Every time this tournament was active, there was a Yule Ball. The Champions are required to open it for _tradition's_ sake," said Harry in annoyance.

Lavender squealed with delight.

"Good thing Nonna forced you to get a tux. These dress robes they're wearing are seriously outdated."

"You're just glad you won't have to face your dad sober," deadpanned Harry.

"That too," said Xanxus grinning. He loved his "bag of holding" as he called it. The second he found out he could carry an almost unlimited amount of things...like his precious booze...and there was no way for Timoteo to confiscate it he was on it like white on rice.

Harry had one as well, though his was a satchel type bag with the crest for the Potter, Black and Vongola families on it. Though the Vongola was hidden by the flap.

Ron looked pretty annoyed with that answer. If it were him, he would have jumped at the chance to be in the tournament.

He didn't even notice Harry discreetly distancing himself from him.

* * *

"Is that the best you brats have to offer? I expected more!" barked Moody in the Room of Requirement.

"Fuck off, old timer! At least I ain't senile enough to get caught with my pants down!" shouted Xanxus. Except you could hear the actual respect in his voice to Moody. He could care less about his career in law enforcement...this man was a fighter and wasn't afraid to throw the hard punches even if his opponent was still a kid.

Harry was panting, but you could see the gleam in his eyes that said he was enjoying himself. Immensely. So was Xanxus.

Homework was good, but the two learned better from practical experience and hard combat. Which was why instead of making them learn spells from books and limited practice, Moody taught them the spell first and then threw them into the deep end when it came to combat.

Sadly he couldn't do the same for the rest of the students, because the other teachers would have jumped on him in a heart beat, never mind the bitching he'd get from Dumbledore.

Moody didn't believe in coddling, and at least he knew these brats could take it.

Besides, they had "signed permission slips" from a very amused Daniela if anyone ever called him on his training.

"So you still have some fight in you? Good!" said Moody cackling evilly.

"Go to to hell! I bet that geriatric old cat woman puts up more of a fight than you!" shouted Xanxus.

He hadn't noticed the door opening, or the fact that McGonagall was there. Her nose flared and she looked pissed. Harry made a visible prayer for Xanxus...before openly abandoning his cousin to his inevitable fate.

Moody approved. There were some things no sane man would want to get in the way of. A pissed off Minerva McGonagall being called _old_ in such a disrespectful manner within hearing was one of them.

Xanxus blinked, turned and saw the "geriatric old cat woman" in the door.

"I regret nothing!" he said loudly, eyes defiant.

 _A few days later..._

Snape was torn between howling and scowling.

Howling because Potter just shared exactly what Xanxus said to piss off McGonagall to the point where he now had detention until after the first task, and scowling because this was Potter's cousin.

Finally he gave up his hatred of Potter and just laughed.

Harry grinned.

"I have to ask, why do you hate McGonagall so much?"

"Too much like my fucking tutors, the ones that always got so snide about the fact my mother was a whore and I was the bastard son," said Xanxus sullenly, scouring the cauldrons. "And then they would bitch to the old man, who would pull me in for another 'disappointed' lecture with Coyote being a total asshole and going on and on about traditions. Like I give a fuck."

Something about his tone sounded too familiar.

"How is it you're not a Slytherin with that attitude?" asked Snape.

"Because he's a liger, not a snake. He's got no patience for being subtle and cunning, though he is both. Besides, the only reason _I'm_ not in Slytherin is because Malfoy pissed me off on the train acting like a self-entitled brat and insulting me," said Harry without hesitation.

"What," said Snape horrified.

Xanxus looked up at the tone, before he snorted.

"So that's what it is. You've been so busy hating his father that you didn't notice the obvious. You, who knows better than anyone what it's like to be beaten for no other reason than an adult being a complete bastard," he said without hesitation.

Snape froze.

"What do you know?" he said perfectly still.

"My madre was a whore who lived in the slums and drank a lot. I have no idea who my father was, nor do I care...and the guy who took me in did a shitty job in pretending he gives a damn. I know exactly what it's like to have a shit childhood and having to avoid adults who like to use children as punching bags for their own problems," said Xanxus bluntly.

"At least you had a mother and followers. I was Dudley's favorite punching bag and Vernon liked to throw me in the cupboard for days on end and the best I could hope for when it came to food was stale bread and water."

Snape stared...before he quietly said "My father was a muggle who hated magic and killed my mother. He thought potions was just a silly hobby I should have given up years ago."

"Welcome to the shitty childhood club. Want a fucking medal?" snarked Xanxus.

The rest of the detention passed in silence. Though Snape was rather reflective about his treatment of Potter... Harry. Looking back on it he realized he was just as petty and cruel as the boy's father.

Conceding he was just as bad as James and his own father left a sour taste in his mouth. So he came up with a simple agreement with the brat.

They would have a mutual avoidance, and it didn't hurt that Harry planned to transfer out at the end of the year to live in Italy.

* * *

The second Xanxus found out there were dragons in the forest (Hagrid barely managed to keep his mouth shut on that, but caved when he saw Harry), he had to see them.

The wild grin on his face when he saw the three mythical creatures was easily mirrored by Harry. Mostly because he wasn't going to have to face off against a very pissed off mother dragon with an actual nest.

"Hey Xanxus!" said Charlie cheerfully. The kid made one hell of an impression the one time he saw him at the World Cup.

"Please tell me it's possible to purchase an actual dragon."

"They're illegal to own," said Charlie wistfully.

"How's Norbert?" asked Harry.

"Norberta, actually, and she's one of the best behaved dragons we have," said Charlie.

"Who's Norbert?" asked Xanxus.

"A Norwegian Ridgeback Hagrid won off a game of cards. He had to give it up because it was getting too big for his house," said Harry.

Xanxus blinked.

"Isn't his house a hut made of _wood_? And not enchanted at that? One that can _barely_ fit him?"

"Yes. And getting Norberta out before Hagrid was busted for owning a dragon cost Gryffindor 150 points and got us a detention in the Forbidden Forest."

Charlie choked hearing that.

"How in the name of Merlin did you lose 150 in one go? Was it Snape that caught you?"

"Filch, and you can blame McGonagall. She only took fifty from Slytherin, but we lost a fifty each... completely over the top, considering the twins only ever lost twenty each," said Harry disgusted.

Charlie shook his head. It was probably for the best that Harry was clearly leaving Hogwarts after this year.

"Wish I could get a dragon. Be hilarious to set it on the old man."

Harry snorted.

"I'm sure if you manage to amuse Auntie enough she might let you _have_ one. That or you could buy an egg illegally and then raise it as a guard dog for that group you're planning to take over," said Harry.

He noticed with amusement the way Xanxus eyed the egg of dragon eggs. He wasn't surprised in the least when the older boy asked...

"If I were to borrow your cloak... would you know how to hatch a dragon?"

Harry grinned.

"We're mafia, breaking the law is in our blood, right? And to answer your question, I do know how and if nothing else we can get Squalo to buy the books. They might be outdated but they still work."

Xanxus' grin was downright _feral_. He didn't care what breed he got... he wanted a dragon.

* * *

 _In England..._

Squalo was cursing up a storm. Of course Xanxus would want a fucking dragon. And even an idiot could tell his little brother (the two acted too close to be considered cousins) would act as his enabler and help him.

Which left the inverted Rain to get the books required from Knockturn, and that meant a disguise since his hair was so damn distinctive.

Still, if it made his Sky happy then Squalo would do it. If for no other reason than to avoid being used as fucking target practice from an unhappy Wrath.

He was not helping to clean up after the damn thing though. No way in hell.

Grumbling in multiple languages, he got the books and managed to leave before he gave into the urge to start stabbing people. Fortunately for the denizens of Knockturn, they knew a killer when they saw one.

* * *

 _During the first task..._

Xanxus was grinning under the cloak. Thanks to Harry's help, he was able to swipe not just one egg, but _three_. It was unlikely the wizards would have the brains to know they were stolen...it was their own damn fault for bringing actual fucking eggs to use as props!

Plus, with the damage Krum did to his nest, they were more likely to chalk up the missing eggs to damage done to the nest.

Thanks to the carefully picked stasis charms the eggs were safely stored. Harry had even discreetly owled Newt Scamander for advice on what to use for newly 'liberated' eggs from the idiots who were stupid enough to use live eggs for the tournament... to his credit and his own fame, Scamander hadn't asked twice why a student would need to know such spells and had happily shared a few that would work to keep them alive, if in a state of suspended animation.

On the grounds that if things went wrong or they needed to get rid of the beast, that they contacted him first on which reserves to send it (or them) to before they attempted to kill it. He seemed rather amused by the whole thing, actually.

Harry had the feeling Newt would get along famously with Hagrid.

Harry would make a point to find a way to get the two to meet. He was sure it would be highly entertaining for everyone and it would give Hagrid someone he could spend hours talking to about fantastic creatures that were all "misunderstood". And then he'd throw Luna in for good measure and get a good laugh out of her creatures and the possibility of them being real.

Xanxus returned to an amused Harry and a cheerful Luna. The girl was a Cloud-Mist and it showed. She was still cuddling with him, mostly to bask in his Sky and because by this point he didn't even register in his personal space.

On an unrelated note, Harry wasn't above using her as Fangirl deterrent, since she admitted she preferred him as a "big brother" to a boyfriend.

She was quite happy to be Harry's Cloud. After all, the twins were his partially bonded Mists.

"Have fun?"

Xanxus smirked. He couldn't wait to hatch his new pets...too bad he had to wait until the school year ended.

Daniela, when told of what Xanxus had done (with some help from Harry) was torn between laughing and groaning incredulously.

"He did _what_?" said Sirius in disbelief.

"My dear favorite grandson stole three dragons eggs. Apparently the keepers didn't bother to guard them properly... too busy watching the first task in case they needed to intervene. So now he has three eggs, though he's going to wait until he comes home before he finds out if they're still viable."

"Dragon eggs. As in a class five beast that is illegal to own," said Sirius deadpan. "One that is notoriously magic resistant and impossible to tame."

"Boys will be boys. And who says we'd care if it was legal to own or not?"

Sirius thought that one over. Right. Mafia. They didn't give a damn as long as it never broke Omerta and the cops didn't find out and came to bitch about it later.

Still, he had to admire the balls on the kid, stealing _dragon_ eggs of all things! Best of all, his favorite godson and heir helped by loaning the cloak!

James would be so proud, and Lily would be mortified.


	9. Chapter 9

Xanxus watched Harry attempt to shoot with a normal gun that Daniela had helpfully supplied when asked.

Harry could barely hit the broad side of a barn. And that was being generous.

"You can't hit worth a shit!" said Xanxus flatly.

Harry scowled at him.

"I'm not used to the weight. It would be easier if I had something to brace it against, or maybe something I could line the sights up with..." said Harry.

"...You mean like a sniper rifle?" said Xanxus.

"Not like I can get my hands on one of those."

"Little brother, we're mafia. I bet Nonna can have one sourced to us within a few weeks, tops," said Xanxus flatly. "Until then I'm going to train your sorry ass until you can at least hit with that thing and not have to resort to pistol whipping someone!"

In fact it took less than a week during the next Hogsmeade weekend for Squalo to deliver a decent sniper rifle. Daniela was all for her nephew to learn how to use a real weapon, so she was happy to send almost anything for Harry to play with.

Including military-grade hardware.

Xanxus was openly gobsmacked when he saw his little brother hit several difficult targets once he got the hang of firing the rifle.

"How the hell is it that you can hit like a trained rookie with a sniper's rifle, but you can't hit the broad side of a barn with a Beretta pistol?"

"I'm a seeker. I'm better trained at adjusting to small changes in wind to catch a tiny ball that's nearly impossible to spot in broad daylight than I am at using a gun," said Harry with a shrug.

Xanxus blinked.

"Fair enough. Guess now we know who to get to train your scrawny ass into a decent fighter," said Xanxus.

Lal Mirch was a former trainer for COMSUBIN, and she was the one who trained Colonello the Rain Arcobaleno in how to use a sniper rifle. If anyone could get Harry up to Quality standards without killing him, it was her.

Xanxus could handle the Flame training, and a good portion of the normal school work. But the conditioning? It was easier to dump it on someone who could put Harry's natural work ethic to good use.

On the plus side, at least now Xanxus knew his little brother could actually _hit_ something with a gun. He was just more of a long-distance shooter than an up close and personal one like Xanxus was.

* * *

"Remind me again why the hell we're doing this?" grumbled Harry. He inwardly cursed his growth spurt that forced him to get new suits.

"Nonna said that she wanted us to cause a big stir during the annual Vongola Christmas Ball. And that means we have to get fitted. She also said that she wants us to bring your little Mist as a date," said Xanxus.

Technically Harry had three Mists, though only one was more his Cloud Guardian. The twins were more of a partial bond since they hadn't fully activated their Flames quite yet. Once this year was over, Daniela was going to help them set up a proper joke shop in Italy... on the condition that they supply her with anything else their devious minds could create. Somehow Harry had the feeling the twins were going to LOVE the Vongola R and D department once they found out they were not only allowed to play with explosives, but encouraged to make them bigger and more interesting.

Luna hummed cheerfully as she tried on dresses. This was going to be far more entertaining than the Yule Ball, where the adults would be ever so boring to be around. Besides, Italians had a better sense of fashion.

Harry wasn't used to shopping, much less with someone as fashion-conscious as Xanxus was.

By the end of it, he had two new suits, Luna had three new dresses that actually suited her and wouldn't look too out of place in a mafia ball and Xanxus was overly amused. They had managed to get a few days out of the castle citing family business in London...which meant Squalo had a chance to visit his Sky and spend more than a few hours with him. This long-distance separation from his Sky was killing him.

"So when exactly is the ball?"

"Christmas Eve. Christmas is exclusively for family, and this is more of a way to show off how big and impressive we still are. Or considering what Nonna has planned...a way to give the lying old bastard a heart attack at the thought of a legitimate heir that he has no control over."

Xanxus was taking this chance to get back at the old man for lying to him for years. His only blood relation to the family (and thus claim on the title of Vongola Decimo) was from the fact the second Vongola Don was his ancestor. However his respect for Daniela only grew because she at least had the balls to tell him outright what the truth was. And that his claim as Decimo wasn't worth mentioning because the damn rings were blood locked and would only accept him if there wasn't any other choice.

In between helping him come to terms with that mess, Daniela had decided to fill the time by teaching Harry the little intricacies of mafia balls.

I/E the same sort of lessons he would have gotten _anyway_ if his parents hadn't been killed and Sirius falsely imprisoned for over a decade. The fact he had never gotten lessons on how to properly manage his titles and status as the head of the Potter family (James' death had automatically upgraded him to head of the family since he was the only one left) and Heir of the House of Black (Sirius wasn't planning to get a wife anytime soon, and it was socially acceptable to name a godchild heir in place of a direct bloodline provided that you were actually related to the child in question) was a testament to how badly Dumbledore had managed his placement.

Fortunately Harry was a quick learner and Xanxus was able to clarify the things Daniela was teaching him, with a bit of magical politics thrown in by an amused/appalled Sirius.

Apparently he found the fact Harry had never gotten these lessons a travesty, especially after he started Hogwarts. Leaving an heir or an underage Head of Family completely unaware of such things was simply Not Done in a way that said volumes of how much the pure blood society took such things well, seriously, to the point that Sirius couldn't make a horrible pun about his own name.

At least Harry would have a clean slate once he was in the mafia, and once alerted to the fact he was never informed or taught of the social etiquette more of the pure bloods had started to ignore him instead of being jerks about it.

Instead they turned all their ire on Dumbledore who was _supposed_ to be training his so-called protege for all this time. Harry was "obviously" the man's little golden boy, yet he had completely failed as a magical guardian to insure that Potter knew the little things!

Harry grumbled with good nature, but still let the tailors get a proper fitting.

He wanted to make a proper presentation at this ball, if only so he didn't embarrass his favorite aunt!

* * *

Harry adjusted his collar nervously. He wanted to make a good impression but had long since abandoned his hair as a lost cause. At least he was wearing his contacts. The scar on his forehead had healed over at last, leaving it relatively unblemished save for a slight discoloration where it used to be.

He was very, very happy that the goblins had removed that soul fragment from his head... it had taken ages to get approval for that but it was totally worth it. Best of all he had kept his ability to snake speak.

Daniela had debated on whether or not to have Harry wear a snake in lieu of a tie, but had decided against it. She was going to shock enough people by introducing her nephew to the mafia at large.

One thing she was going to make clear was that her nephew was strictly under her rule and not under her son's. Timoteo had made such a complete mess of his own children that she wouldn't dare trust him with Harry.

As it was she was leaving Harry's Guardians up to the boy in question...once she gave him a detailed an thorough explanation of what Harmony _was_ and not what most expected it to be. The half-assed loyalty of her grandson's Guardians (with the notable exception of Xanxus who had at least chosen proper ones) was a major indicator that her son had royally erred when it came to their education.

Introducing an heir no one had even known about until he had reached out to Daniela was going to Shake Things Up in a way that might get her son off his ass and actually _do_ something useful for a change.

She was quite looking forward to it.

Daniela looked him over, and gave him a thumb's up of approval before having him go over what he would be doing. Thankfully she had also approved of Luna quite heartily...and made the Cloudy-Mist look even more 'electric' as she had put it with some well placed old jewelry she wasn't planning to wear anymore.

Daniela and Luna getting along was somewhat terrifying. In a good way, considering Luna was very vindictive and protective of one of the few real friends she had.

Harry happily pleaded ignorance.

Xanxus was going purely to see the chaos that was about to be sown the second Daniela announced the sudden appeared of her great-nephew...and a confirmed Active Sky.

Which meant the Vongola would have an entirely _new_ heir on the list of those already known and it would shock the hell out of his not-father while trying to discreetly suss out where his cousin stood.

It was going to be hilarious. He knew for a fact that the old geezer's private hit man Reborn was going to _love_ this when it came out... it was just the sort of chaos he thrived in.

Once everyone was suitably attired, they drove to the manor where the party was taking place.

Daniela had debated on how to spring the fact that she had a great-nephew on her son, and had settled for letting him get a feel of the room before introducing them without bothering to lower her tone.

It meant no one would notice the kid with the green eyes until it was too late and she got to enjoy the chaos of it all.

As far as anyone knew, Harry was just some random Sky Daniela had found by accident and picked up.

And it would stay that way until she backed up the fact he was her blood nephew with the DNA results and making it very clear she had done her research before declaring him family.

Unlike her fool son who had lied to Xanxus for years to his face about being his father. It was a subtle way for the woman to give her son a much needed slap down for his incompetence.

It went without a hitch. No one noticed Harry or his date, though some did give Luna a dirty look for being so obviously eccentric without saying a word. Xanxus had taken one look at the way Harry had eased his own way into the same circle Daniela inhabited (which was full of mafia women around the Ottavo's age who had survived the war...all of which found Harry "very charming" and an utter flatterer with an honest face) and snickered.

"What's so funny?"

"Take one look at the way he's getting along with them and tell me with a straight face he isn't going to end up Cougar bait."

Squalo looked, saw how Harry was shamelessly charming the women of 'distinguished age', to put it delicately, and openly tried not to laugh.

Harry was definitely going to be called Cougar Bait with the way he was unknowingly charming all those older women. Daniela was obviously getting a kick out of it.

Then again Harry was the _only_ person who openly believed the woman to be in her fifties, rather than pushing seventy. And he would give people funny looks if they tried to correct him, stating with a straight face that she couldn't possibly be older than fifty-five.

Xanxus kept half of his attention on Harry (Squalo was keeping track of dear Luna, who had managed to slip around unnoticed in her rather eclectic outfit) and the other half on the usual party nonsense.

So he was very well aware when Harry, after heading to the buffet table, _finally_ noticed Reborn and the other Arcobaleno who deigned to show up. And in true Gryffindor fashion decided to introduce himself.

Reborn had taken _one_ look at the kid and had grinned. Openly at that.

Xanxus knew this was going to be fun.

 _Third POV_

"Ciaossu. I don't recognize you at all."

Harry grinned at him, instinctively recognizing a kindred spirit in chaos.

"Auntie brought me. She plans to cause untold havoc, chaos and outright anarchy in the gossip circles while giving her son a much-needed heart attack and headache for being an idiot."

The Sun Arcobaleno grinned very viciously before holding out his hand.

"Reborn."

"Harry," he said, firmly shaking it and not treating the obviously cursed man as the toddler he appeared to be. "I have several herbal remedies designed to cause chaos and outright mischief."

"What a coincidence. I can sneak such things into people's drinks and food without anyone noticing," said Reborn. "It won't kill them, will it?"

"It'll only humiliate them and give their ego a swift kick in the pants."

Reborn jumped onto Harry's shoulder...and for the next fifteen minutes the two proceeded to cause untold mischief in the name of killing their boredom.

Xanxus had to excuse himself to the bathroom so he could laugh his ass off without his not-father noticing and catching on too soon. This was positively worth coming to this boring party for.

Harry found himself 'invited' to sit with Reborn and a very amused Lal Mirch.

"I like you," said Reborn without preamble. "Who's your aunt?"

"Would you rather find out now so you can get a good spot to record the inevitable blackmail, or be surprised?" asked Harry honestly.

Reborn's grin had not abated once.

"Blackmail, if it's good enough."

"Daniela Vongola is my great aunt through her younger brother on my mother's side. Considering my Flame type she's planning on springing me and the DNA results on her son right at the best part so she can enjoy his shock finding out he has a cousin."

Reborn openly had to fight a cackle. Timoteo's expression was going to be worth _gold_ when this came out.

"Give me five minutes so I can get properly set up."

Harry turned his attention to the other person at the table, who was definitely amused now.

"Are you by any chance Lal Mirch?"

"I am."

"Auntie said she might have an interesting offer for you come summer."

Lal eyed the kid before her and could guess what Daniela had planned.

"I hope you don't mind hard work then... I don't tolerate slackers."

A strange sort of tight expression crossed his face.

"So long as the demands are reasonable, you'll get no problem from me. I'm _used_ to hard work," said Harry evenly.

He noticed his aunt waving to him, and he grinned Reborn.

"I think you better get into position now," he advised.

Reborn disappeared with the ease of long practice and skill. This was going to be _good_.

Harry went to where his aunt was and Luna drifting from who knows where along the way. She stayed close, but not so much as to be noticed.

Timoteo took notice of them quickly enough, though didn't separate from the dons he had been trying to win over.

That would prove to be a major error, as it turned out. One Daniela was planning to take him to task for the second she had a chance.

"So who is this young lad?" asked Timoteo patronizingly. He clearly assumed the boy to be in the same situation as Xanxus. Adopted, but not really important save to keep his mother off his back.

Daniela smirked viciously. Timoteo's intuition warned him something horrible and chaotic was about to happen...he usually only got these warnings when Reborn was particularly bored.

"I would like to introduce Harry Potter-Black... your _cousin_."

Timoteo choked on his wine.

"My _what_?" he said in shock, openly showing his disbelief.

"Your cousin. It seems my dear younger brother Giovanni left behind a legacy before his death. A legacy that was thoughtful enough to provide samples for DNA testing before he established any communication with us first," said Daniela.

"You have proof?" he said, trying to hide his shock. He wasn't successful.

"I compared it to Giovanni... Harry is indeed his grandson. Three different labs confirmed it," said Daniela, pulling out the papers. Timoteo looked them over and knew them to be trustworthy for determining heritage... he knew several who swore by their results.

Then he took a much better look at Harry, paying actual attention now.

It was abundantly obvious the boy had some rather noble features... but it was his Flames that had Timoteo's undivided attention.

There was no way to mistake him for anything _but_ an Active Sky that was starting to edge towards Useful.

"Before you get any ideas, _son,_ Harry is under my personal protection. I'm already arranging for him to be trained _properly_ ," said Daniela vindictively. She cast a glance to where her grandsons were and the implications were not lost on him.

Clearly she disapproved of how badly he had managed his own sons and was taking steps to insure that he didn't ruin his newly found (and confirmed) cousin.

By the time the party ended the gossip network was positively _buzzing_ with the exciting development that the Vongola had an heir quite literally come out of the woodwork under the direction of Vongola Ottavo. Her great-nephew in fact!

Reborn was thoroughly amused and rather enjoyed the absolute chaos. It was every bit as enjoyable as Harry had implied and was going to be worth his weight in gold for the blackmail of Timoteo being caught totally off guard by the new development alone!


	10. Chapter 10

Daniela openly cackled as they went back to the manor. The look on her son's face had been priceless!

She wasn't alone...Xanxus was definitely enjoying the aftermath.

"I wonder how he'd react if he knew half the pranks done this time around were caused by Reborn and a willing enabler of chaos?" he mused.

"I knew that was you! Those were hilarious!" said Daniela, patting her nephew on the head appreciatively.

"I liked him," said Harry. "He felt really tired though."

"...Think he got blackmail pictures?" said Daniela.

"I gave him forewarning of chaos, and told him when to set up...so almost certainly," said Harry. The woman perked up at that. "And if you really get bored you can always introduce him to Sirius. The two of them would get along like a house on fire."

"Now _there's_ an idea!" cackled Daniela.

"How much you want to bet Sirius senses the impending chaos and his role in it and is already waiting for us?" asked Harry.

Xanxus grinned and the impromptu bet was set. If Harry was right and Sirius could sense chaos and mischief heading his way, then Xanxus owed him several boxes of the expensive chocolate he favored. If Harry lost, then he had to fight Squalo with an English broadsword until he was competent considering the Rain had been _appalled_ by the memory of how badly he had handled the Sword of Gryffindor.

Harry got lucky... Sirius had a nose for pranks and mischief and had been waiting as Padfoot the second he heard the car coming.

The fact that the boy was dead tired and just wanted to sleep until they went back a second time a day later for a proper Christmas (Daniela planned to _properly_ introduce her son to his cousin) just meant that he had an excuse to crash on the bed without getting undressed.

* * *

 _Christmas Day_

Harry officially disliked Iemitsu. He was like a _slightly_ more competent Draco Malfoy except he didn't run to his older relatives every time things didn't go his way. He was obnoxious, loud and reminded Harry firmly of a braying jackass every time he spoke.

He did not regret for an instant slipping the idiot some of the twin's Canary Creams.

Enrico was okay, but Harry found it very odd that he was still the heir when he was more than old enough to have taken over. It was abundantly clear to him that his cousin was very tired of being the leader of the Vongola, but was too stubborn to realize he desperately needed a break. And he kept putting it off for the most ridiculous of reasons!

If he really was serious about not letting Enrico take over until he had a full set of Guardians, then why did he keep pressuring his oldest to take on people who he didn't have a proper bond with? It made no sense whatsoever!

And then he heard something that really, really pissed him off.

"Let me get this straight. You have a civilian wife and a two-year old son in another country...and yet you're spending Christmas _here_ with your uncle and cousins rather than having actual family bonding time with them," said Harry slowly.

Xanxus was already getting snacks, because he could tell from a mile off that Harry was about to read a major riot act on Iemitsu.

It was about damn time!

"Christmas is about family time!" said Iemitsu stupidly, not seeing what the big deal was.

"And yet you're spending it not with your wife and son, but with your _cousins_. Do you honestly have no idea why that is beyond odd?" said Harry slowly.

Daniela joined Xanxus, Squalo and Luna with the snacks.

Enrico, Massimo and Federico were slowly edging away from their new baby cousin, while Timoteo was starting to see all the familiar signs of his mother when her temper was about to blow after a slow-burning rage.

That was never a pretty sight and usually left the victims cringing for weeks if they were lucky.

Iemitsu stared at him stupidly.

"Do you know what _I_ remember from when I was fifteen months old?" he asked calmly.

"Not really. Who remembers that far back?"

"I remember with very vivid detail the last moments of my parents lives, right before they were murdered. Children have longer memories than you think and I'm sure your _wife_ is rather miserable knowing she has to spend it alone with only her _son_ to keep her company on what is often turned into a romantic holiday," said Harry, with a very pissed off expression.

Timoteo edged towards his mother, careful not to attract the attention of the volcano about to erupt.

"His parents?"

"From what I found out a serial murderer targeting certain families came to his parent's safe house and killed them when he was still in the nursery. His father fought the man off to hopefully buy his wife and son time to escape, but the mother died protecting him from the madman and barely managed to mortally wound him enough that he was unable to kill him as well. His mother's half sister...who is not one of us, thankfully, was less than pleased to have him in her home and made it very clear she didn't want him around," replied Daniela. "It's why he reached out in the first place... his home life was almost as bad as Xanxus' was when you first took him in, save that he was being abused and treated like a servant by his own kin."

Timoteo didn't ask what happened to the family once Daniela found out his home situation. It was obvious his mother would have dealt with such scum in a very...final...manner. Both to insure they didn't try to get anything out of the Vongola through her nephew, and because child abuse would have really pissed her off.

Iemitsu was slowly coming to understand that Harry was very pissed off about his "dismissive" attitude towards family over Family. Especially as it was becoming very, very clear that Iemitsu favored the familigia over his own wife and son.

And while that might be good for the Vongola, it wasn't good for Iemitsu's poor wife and child.

Xanxus was enjoying the dressing down. It was also becoming abundantly clear to anyone with eyes that Harry did _not_ like Iemitsu. At all.

He could tolerate Enrico, Massimo and Federico (all of whom had been teasing their new cousin about Luna and the way she was so attached to him), but Iemitsu clearly got on Harry's last nerve with how little he cared for his civilian family.

Xanxus could already see Harry Doing Somethingto make up for the lack of a male role model in the son's life, and giving the wife someone to vent to.

Christmas thankfully ended without disaster...if you didn't count the fact that Harry and Luna tag-teamed to prank the ever living hell out of Iemitsu purely for getting on Harry's last nerve with his behavior... but the same could _not_ be said for the day after.

* * *

Boxing Day had barely begun when he was summoned to Nono's private office. Thankfully, Xanxus was already up and following him under the Potter Invisibility Cloak.

Harry knew right off the bat this meeting was going to _suck_. And that was before Timoteo displayed a startling disdain for magic users in general.

He was clearly trying to goad Harry into losing his temper. Some of those comments would have made any of his friends... particularly Hermione...snap ages ago.

Ron wouldn't have lasted five minutes.

However if there was one thing Harry had in spades, it was patience... and a very Slytherin mind-set when it came to cataloging insults for later.

The fact he could feel Xanxus trying very hard not to try and kill his adopted father helped too... his brother _needed_ a calming influence on his Wrath.

Xanxus had grown up a feral liger cub... he had needed that rage and boiling temper to ignite his Flame to survive. Harry, on the other hand, had patience tempered by years of pain and subterfuge. He knew how to lie in wait for the opportune moment.

Harry calmly collected his irritation, shoved it to the back where it wouldn't openly affect his judgment and looked the don right in the eye with an unimpressed look.

"I can understand finding out your sons have a new contender to deal with when it comes to succession was shocking, but your attempts to piss me off are going to fail quite spectacularly. The simple fact of the matter is I respect and trust Auntie a hell of a lot more than I do you and my opinion of you is only going lower the more you try to get under my skin. I have no need of money, fame or even power. The only reason I reached out was to get out of a bad home life and actually have family that doesn't treat me like scum on the bottom of someone's shoes," said Harry calmly, giving Timoteo a Look.

Timoteo was rather impressed. Any one of his sons would have lost their temper or stormed out by this point. But not this teen. He had calmly accepted the subtle insults and jibes at his character without a word, before calmly launching an effective counter without being insulting about it.

Which made him far more dangerous than most of his men put together. And far more apt as a leader than any of his blood-sons.

"That being said I'm fairly certain Auntie is planning to have me take her place in the little social gatherings she favors so much. She was certainly hinting at it enough after that party," said Harry.

Daniela had despaired of the discreet power she still held even in retirement falling to the wayside. None of her grandsons (adopted or otherwise) or Iemitsu had shown any ability to keeping her social circles intact upon her death. Which was a pity, considering the ladies that she had tea with regularly often held more sway over the mafia than the actual _dons_ did.

No sane don wanted to go against their mother, after all.

And then Harry, her sweet, adorably charming nephew had shown up. And he had shown not only a talent but a natural inclination to charming her friends to the point they openly doted on him like a grandson and were more than willing to spoil him rotten. The fact he shamelessly missed on their ages, often cutting decades off how old they actually were and looked openly sincere at his guess had only been icing on the cake.

The women were smitten with him by the time he wandered over to meet Reborn and conspired to cause outright mischief. Mischief that tickled their funny bone and provided quite a bit of new and exciting things to talk about at the next tea gathering.

Timoteo was not an idiot. It was very clear his mother had gotten her hooks into her nephew so thoroughly that he wouldn't blatantly disrespect her son out of respect for her.

So long as his cousin didn't disgrace the family or try to make an open bid for power, the easiest option would be to ignore he existed unless he had to.

Timoteo would have dismissed the boy...except he was pulling back something that looked like a hood to reveal a very angry Xanxus.

"Now I believe it's long past time for you two to air out some truths that should have been told straight off, rather than let fester. Unless you _want_ Xanxus to go on a complete rampage with as many people as he can drag into it just to get a straight answer from you?" said Harry, giving Timoteo a Look he knew far too well.

It only empathized that while he may appear like his English parents, there was still a direct connection to his mother Daniela. Clearly he was not going to get out of this particular talk, for all that he had been avoiding it for some time.

It was then that Timoteo got a first hand look at the influence the teen had on his adopted son.

Harry was not only able to keep Xanxus level-headed, but was able to temper his anger at being lied to for years about the fact he had a claim on the line of succession as a potential Decimo heir.

Being given a Look that wouldn't have been remiss on his mother's face for being especially dense (he had been on the receiving end of quite a few over the past few years, so he recognized it on sight) as he was told off about trying to get Xanxus to perform what his people would call "Line Theft", or claiming a right to the Family Magicks when you didn't have a legitimate blood tie to the main line, simply because he refused to own up to the fact he had found a Wrath Sky and decided to adopt the kid despite having no actual blood relation whatsoever, was not a pleasant experience.

Still, at least the truth had been aired out and Xanxus knew for a _fact_ that the only way he was ever going to be accepted by the Rings was if all other heirs died...Harry included, which he clearly found entirely unacceptable.

It didn't mean Xanxus forgave him for the deception. If Timoteo wanted to earn even a fraction of the teen's trust he'd have to make an actual effort out of it.

* * *

"How was your Christmas?" asked Hermione. She knew Harry had been in Italy, but that was it.

"Interesting with a high dose of explosive and rather emotionally draining. My cousin was less than enthused with the fact his mother had brought in another heir to the family magics that had slipped through the cracks. Pretty sure he's going to settle on an avoidance policy when it comes to me since apparently I took after my aunt more than I assumed."

Xanxus snorted. He still hadn't gotten over the fact Timoteo had _finally_ come clean about his heritage...meaning he wasn't his father but he had at least legally adopted him from the slums.

"Oh tell them the rest. Like the fact you were acting like total cougar bait during the party right before you joined forces with a known chaos magnet and pranked half the idiots there," said Xanxus.

"What's a cougar?" asked Neville.

"Distinguished older woman who seeks the company of much younger men," said Harry diplomatically.

"Think the old cat sleeping with someone at least a decade or two younger than her and you get the idea," said Xanxus, nodding his head towards McGonagall.

(McGonagall would not be amused in the least when she found out who the source of those particular rumors was... she was heartily glad Xanxus didn't look inclined to _come back_ next year. Having him there for one was trying enough!)

Quite a few students made a face, likely from the mental image of McGonagall with an actual sex life.

"What's the usual definition for someone like Dumbledore?"

"Hell if I know. All I care about is keeping that gay-lord far, far away from me and never being in the same room with him alone."

Harry tilted his head.

"How do you know he's gay?"

"Look at how he dresses and acts! Besides, if you read between the lines of his interactions with Gellert Grindlewald it's pretty fucking obvious the two were banging each other in between long talks about that greater good crap," said Xanxus dismissively.

"So... you had fun?" said Hermione, changing the subject as it had become quite awkward. No one wanted to hear about Dumbledore's sex life any more than they wanted to speculate on McGonagall's.

Harry's grin was not reassuring in the least.

"I made a new friend. I think he'd _love_ meeting the twins..."

Xanxus' sudden cackle at the thought of Reborn meeting Fred and George Weasley sent shivers of doom down the spines of anyone with sense. The fact it was almost certain to happen with Daniela offering to sponsor a proper joke shop in Italy's magical section made things even worse.

On the plus side, it was highly unlikely that the Sun Arcobaleno would ever claim to be bored again.


	11. Chapter 11

Xanxus was deeply unimpressed with the second task and heartily glad they had the foresight to bring books. The two of them were shamelessly abusing a well known fact about Flame Control...it made them instant heaters. Luna was happily cuddling with her Sky.

Blaize was currently being his usual Cloudy self and avoiding everyone. He was more than happy to hide behind his new Sky if it meant avoiding having to socialize for a few hours. Well, in between reading some books that Daniela had been more than happy to send him on poisons and other subtle ways to kill people.

He found it fascinating that he could murder someone with something as common and mundane as flour in an enclosed room, simply by using his flames to multiply the amount in the area.

Though it wasn't nearly as fascinating as the fact the "great Golden Gryff" himself had a very strong grasp of how to kill someone and still establish an alibi. It had been a very therapeutic thought process growing up, one that Daniela was all too happy to refine when the subject came up by accident after Harry stumbled upon her late night reading of medieval torture.

It had come as a very strong reminder that Harry was more than "just" a Potter... he was also related to the infamous Black family by blood.

He was just more subtle at it.

Case in point, he was currently reading a book on how eighteenth century torture devices worked and the improvements made since then.

Clearly the Black blood ran thicker in Harry more than it ever had his father.

Blaize couldn't wait to see how _that_ turned out, especially since being related to the mafia (and the eventual loosening of certain "civilian" morals) meant that no one would really bat an eye at his hobbies so long as they weren't too damaging. Or overt.

He almost felt pity for the Death Eaters, if they ever came after the teen. Somehow he had the feeling Harry would end up gleefully turning them all into "test dummies" for all the devices he kept reading about just to see them properly in action.

"Looks like this stupid thing is over with," said Xanxus.

"Thank god. One more task, then we can go home and properly terrify the ninth generation," said Harry.

Xanxus snickered at that.

"Terrify the old man _and_ have Nonna train you up to be proper cougar bait."

* * *

It was the last task and Harry couldn't _wait_ for it to be over with. The sooner this nonsense was done, the sooner he could go home and never look back on England again.

No more idiots trying to force him to save their asses. No more old goats pretending they cared but were just setting him up. And best of all, no more Dursleys.

He still didn't know what his aunt did to them, nor did he care.

"It looks like Auntie was able to get in touch with one of the other Arcobaleno. Something about hand to hand combat on top of the conditioning..." said Harry, reading the new entry.

"Probably the Storm. He's a master martial artist," said Xanxus.

"Huh."

"What?"

"Well if I'm reading this right, it almost sounds like he was free now and decided to give Lal a proper assessment of my condition or something."

"What?" said Xanxus, sitting up. Harry handed him the book. "Wait...she's sending him _here_?"

"Indeed," came an unfamiliar voice. "That and I was rather curious to meet the boy who had Reborn of all people in such a good mood for over two months."

It was a man with the appearance of a toddler, with a red pacifier and...a monkey?

Harry grinned at the comment.

"Reborn is a _lot_ of fun...and half the fun of pranking a chaos magnet like him is seeing what he'll come up with in retaliation."

The Storm Arcobaleno, or Fon, grinned rather viciously at that.

"I'm sensing a great deal of future entertainment. But first I need to perform a full assessment of your physical condition and how you fight to see what sort of styles would suit you."

"Just a forewarning, I can barely hit the broadside of a barn with a hand gun. I'm a decent sniper though."

"Hell, why don't you just sit in when Moody has us fighting with some new spells?" suggested Xanxus. That was exhausting and it was Harry's primary style of attack, since he hadn't really gotten training before now on how to fight like the average person. "We're about due for another one of those lessons anyway."

Moody had listed them as "exempt" from DADA lessons, citing that Harry's practical vastly made him above average in the subject and he was more suited to the basic beginning Auror lessons than sitting around writing essays all night. Instead they meet up in the old dueling hall under the supervision of Moody and Professor Flitwick...along with a few others who had gotten permission slips from their parents. Susan Bones had damn near jumped at the chance for basic Auror training instead of regular DADA. Not only was it _very_ informative, but it would look good on her resume later... that and less homework.

Fon took a discreet spot and hid under the invisibility cloak in a place Moody wouldn't notice him. He found the show of trust from the boy rather interesting... most mafioso wouldn't dare hand over something so _useful_ like the cloak to an almost complete stranger. Though perhaps his Vongola Intuition told him he was trustworthy.

The cursed martial artist watched with open interest. The boy had some stamina, wasn't afraid of injuries (or had an insane pain tolerance), and was refreshingly accurate with his spells. The boy had sharp eyes and quick reflexes...if he recalled right, the Vongola Ottavo had mentioned he was a 'seeker' since he was eleven. The youngest in a century, and it meant he had a lot of practice spotting small details and naturally fast reactions. He was a decent judge of how much power to put into his attacks.

In short, while he was decent, he could be much, much better with proper training and an attentive teacher.

Fon noted with open interest that the boy seemed to react better to active and open combat, changing his speed on pure instinct and striking as fast as a snake.

The Storm started to grin with a terrifying smile. That would make the boy _interesting_ to train. Most people who learned martial arts did so by rote and in safe practice. This boy was far more used to learning from experience.

He could easily work with that.

* * *

 _A few days later..._

It had taken all of a day to secure a private training area. With so many guests in the castle, they had to be extra discreet in heading to the Chamber of Secrets.

Fon was more than happy to "redecorate", I/E show the boys exactly what could be done with Storm Flames in an area where his only restriction was that he not target the ceiling or walls, lest he accidentally dump the entire lake above on them.

Harry hated those tacky snakes anyway. And they had long since harvested what little was left of the basilisk, sending the fangs to Daniela to be made into daggers.

Xanxus was impressed and envious. He wanted to learn how to do that! His Wrath was a mixture of Storm and Sky, so it was theoretically possible...

"First let's start with what you know of martial arts, or at least hand to hand combat."

"Absolutely nothing, save for how to take a punch and protect the important bits from an asskicking," said Harry without hesitation. "Unless you count those cheesy martial arts movies, but most of them were so badly done I barely remember any of it."

Fon snorted at that.

"Movies are not a proper demonstration of _real_ martial arts. And at least you're honest about your lack of knowledge."

"Well that's why Auntie sent you. She knew I had no idea how to fight... Xanxus is at least teaching me to fight _dirty_ , but most of the time we're refining my aim and spell casting ability."

Xanxus was not afraid to fight and fight dirty... it was something that had vexed his tutors for years before they gave up on training him fully out of his honed instincts that told him to go for the kill and never let up. And Harry, being a vindictive little bastard when he was put in the mood for it, was _vicious_ and had picked up similar habits the second Xanxus started sparring with him.

Sadly the evidence they had been practicing was all too obvious, so they had to limit it lest the teachers (or Hermione) find out and bitch about it.

"Somehow I have the distinct feeling Lal is going to love teaching you. Her or Colonello. For now I shall show you some rather basic stances to see how quickly you pick up on them and we'll go from there."

Fon had Harry in a set of five basic stances. And then he had the boy fight Xanxus using _only_ those stances.

It was as he had suspected... Harry had a natural instinct for fighting in general and after the seventh time he corrected him on a minor error, the boy picked things up _fast_. Especially when he was in live-combat with an opponent he knew damn well to take seriously. He adapted to the situation without hesitation and actually listened.

Best of all, in Fon's personal opinion, any potential ego problem Harry would have developed from his skills had already been beaten out of him long ago. He was far more likely to use anything Fon taught him to protect and defend, rather than use them like most his age might and get killed for it. Fon detested students who only wanted to learn how to fight properly just to show off.

Harry was more like a steady Flame that burned at an even pace unless provoked...then he became the raging wildfire no one saw coming and left devastation and reform in his wake.

Xanxus was the unpredictable raging flame, one that burned fast and bright...but still held a tempered pace that kept it from burning out completely.

It was an interesting contrast...made more so by the fact that the steady Flame of Harry was able to temper Xanxus' own rampaging fires to a much more steady and sedate pace without setting him off. All without even a hint of Rain flames.

Perhaps Xanxus had some Cloud secondaries? His 'territory' was clearly the Vongola, or at least the family... maybe having a younger cousin so clearly out of his depth and in desperate need of a dragon to keep the worst offenders from getting close had given Xanxus' Flames something real to latch onto and protect?

It would explain so much. Fon was sure Daniela would find such a thing very interesting indeed.

And then Fon found out about Xanxus' little theft from earlier that year.

"You have a Chinese Fireball egg, unhatched and in careful stasis. _How_?" asked Fon baffled.

"I owled Newt Scamander on a 'hypothetical' question of how one would keep a dragon egg safe for long term transit through dangerous territory and unhatched. He was surprisingly well informed and seemed to guess why I was asking and only requested that if I was planning to do something as foolish as own a dragon that I at least contact _him_ first when it inevitably got out of hand...while at the same time praising me for saving the eggs, because apparently the handlers hadn't taken all the right precautions on the way back," said Harry.

"They lost three nests because some idiot didn't keep the eggs close enough for the mothers to keep hot on the way back and they all died," said Xanxus in open disgust. "And that's not taking into account the ones they lost because Krum was stupid enough to blind one of the mothers to the point she nearly destroyed her nest out of pain."

"What are you planning to do with it?"

"Squalo's almost ready to challenge Tyr for the title of Sword Emperor. Once he does and wins, then he's handing the Varia over to me. I was thinking guard dog," said Xanxus. No way was he passing up owning a dragon. "That or something we can sneak into CEDEF to give that idiot Iemitsu headaches trying to contain it before the wizards come to get it."

Fon was in disbelief at such ridiculous reasoning.

"I wonder if it's possible for train a dragon like in the movie. I mean we are semi-flame proof after all."

 _How to Train Your Dragon_ had been the movie that Harry, Xanxus and Squalo had gone to see the day they were ambushed and Daniela got conformation that Harry was indeed Flame Active and a Sky.

Fon made a pained noise at the very idea. Dragons were a headache on a _good_ day...he had been to a reserve a few times when he was younger and it had left an impression.

Harry grinned at him openly.

"You're forgetting to factor in the effects of Sky Flame. Charlie openly mentioned Noberta, the dragon Hagrid hatched and tried to keep was considerably tamer than the other dragons on the reserve...and I was present multiple times while he was trying to train her and at her birth."

Fon's face smoothed out a bit at that.

He had forgotten to add in the effects Sky Flame had on other creatures. It _might_ be possible for them to make the creature at least semi-tamed...but it would be like owning a tiger cub in your house. You knew the thing liked you enough not to kill you in your sleep, but it was still a large cat with all the instincts of an apex predator and very dangerous.

"You are both ridiculous," said Fon flatly.

"We're _teenagers_. It's expected for us to do stupid crap at this age, if only out of youthful bravado and stupidity. And if it eats us, then it's nature's way of weeding us out before our foolishness gets passed on to another generation," said Harry flippantly.

Fon was beginning to realize that the problems he had averted with most youthful idiots had merely been replaced with his student being an adrenaline junkie who lived to do crazy things that would make even _Reborn_ gape at them. One with a wide sense of humor, which according to the files he read he came by honestly on _both_ sides of the family.

Oh well... at least his student wouldn't be _boring_.


	12. Chapter 12

Harry was beyond relieved when the third task ended...Cedric had managed to win through the skin of his teeth, thus proving that everyone who disparaged Hufflepuffs were all idiots (something Harry said _loudly_ at the Great Hall before the task began, earning him a LOT of brownie points for pointing out that it a Hufflepuff had managed to keep and maintain the top score the entire tournament from the badgers) and the two other champions accepted their failure with grace.

Which meant it was _finally_ time for them to go home to Italy.

Fortunately, the fact Daniela had shown up at Hogwarts _in person_ after being taken to Hogsmeade to collect Xanxus and Harry meant that he wouldn't have to deal with any attempts by Dumbledore and his 'well-meaning greater good' to stop him from leaving England entirely.

He was heartily glad to be gone. Luna would be joining him as well, once she visited her father. Xenophilius had a rather... interesting...personality and had been very happy his "darling Luna" had found someone ready and willing to take care of her properly.

Like Harry, she would not be returning to Hogwarts next year. It was a very _bad_ idea to separate a Guardian from their Sky. Squalo had only survived because he had been prepared for it and visited as frequently as humanely possible without alerting anyone where he was going.

Fon was quite glad to be out of that castle. The place _itched_ on his well trained senses and not in a good way. He'd swear on his ancestor's he sensed a cursed soul fragment somewhere in the building and the fact that the wards hadn't picked up on it was a very, very bad sign.

It said far too much about how the wards on the school had deteriorated if he had been able to sneak around so easily without the express permission of the owner (which was the headmaster/headmistress) _and_ he was able to sense something that dangerous and evil.

It was a good thing all of his clan's magically inclined children were taught in-house...he dreaded to think the damage this 'school' (and he hesitated to give it that much credit...the lessons were that bad) could have done to their future prospects.

Fon was _very_ fond of Harry at this point. The boy was a true delight to teach and actually listened when you explained things in a patient and clear manner. Once he fell into the rhythm of fighting with martial arts only, he picked things up _very_ quickly and actually put in the effort to commit his new skills to muscle memory.

He was the rare sort of student that picked things up quickly but never let it go to his head to the point it would get him killed. The kind people like Fon would literally _kill_ to teach, because they were so rare and it meant that more of their skills and abilities would be passed on _properly_.

The fact that he was half-trained as a wizard said volumes of how bad the teachers in this 'school' were. None of them had seen the pure, untouched marble that was Harry Potter-Black and seen the masterpiece that could be sculpted from it.

They all saw the boy's parents, the image some fool had built up (he suspected Dumbledore, the coward), or the "Gryffindor Golden Boy" with the mediocre grades and not the person underneath.

It was ridiculous and pissed Fon off immensely.

* * *

Daniela grinned at the way Harry was practically using his cousin/older brother as a pillow, something she never thought she'd see save for the rare times people let small children around the volatile teen.

Which was ridiculous, because while Xanxus detested the idiocy of the older mafioso and those his own age, he was _very_ protective and gentle with anyone under the age of eight. Much like a dragon with young...he protected them even if they weren't blood simply because they were children and thus innocent.

"They are adorable together. He's protective, but not coddling and Harry has a surprisingly calming influence on his Wrath," said Fon with a sedate amused tone.

"Tell me more," said Daniela.

"Xanxus seems to treat his younger brother like a fellow tiger...a half-grown one, but still a tiger. He will defend him, train with him seriously, and be there to act as a shield from others...but he has never tried to stop Harry from doing anything unless it remotely sounded dangerous to the point of stupid. Unlike his 'friends' who kept trying to butt in and acted as though they knew what was best for him without even bothering to consult him. Though they eventually got the hint to leave him be after one too many fireballs from Xanxus. The number of genuine allies Harry had in that castle were so few it was rather startling, considering he's an Active Sky. Out of them, only three people were even remotely drawn to him in a guardian sense and the other felt more like the Earth equivalent of a Sky," said Fon.

Luna and the twins would be heading to Italy soon enough once they got their things in order. None of them wanted to stick around England if their Sky wasn't there. Blaize would be picked up once he got permission from his mother...he had too many useful social connections to fully remove himself like the other three had without at least setting something up.

Interesting, but not important.

"And his skill level?"

"He is honestly _wasted_ on those idiots. He'll be better off with private tutors that don't mind students who are work better with an active task than sitting down to learn by rote. Not that he is bad at that, but he's so used to downplaying his actual intelligence that any teacher he has trying to give him written work is going to get a tainted assessment of his actual skill level."

"He openly admitted to downplaying his homework as a child to avoid his 'relatives' being mad because their son was a lazy brat who hated actually working for anything."

"Which was only exacerbated by the fact his first 'friend' is just as lazy and hates school work, and the other is an overachiever who takes great offense to being second-best while harassing him about school work," said Fon, shaking his head.

What had started out as a self-preservation habit had gotten _stuck_ as an unintentional side effect of having a lazy friend and an over achieving one. In order to keep both sides happy he would have had to stay as close to 'middling average' as possible while his real intelligence was completely wasted.

It was a complete disgrace and did a great disservice to his intelligence and ability.

At least with martial arts and actual live-combat training Harry didn't have an ingrained reflex to hide his actual skill. Which was great...except he was so used to hiding that it would make it _very_ difficult to find him proper guardians since he had a lot of valid and reasonable trust issues.

There was a reason why no one abused Skies, and it wasn't just because they were so coveted.

"Are you aware they plan on hatching actual _dragons_ sometime soon?" asked Fon in a pained voice.

At least they were more than willing to hand over the Chinese Fireball egg they had inadvertently rescued. Besides the fact it was from his homeland, Fon was more than aware of the fact that the Emperor (who the magicals had _not_ removed from power despite their less-magical half replacing it with the Communist party) was very fond of the breed and used it as an open sign of their right to rule, with the Empress doing the same for Phoenixes. True Feng-Huang had not been seen in several centuries...which was understandable, so it was perfectly acceptable to use their Middle-Eastern counterparts.

Fon fully planned to hand _that_ over to the Emperor personally and suggest he launch an inquiry as to why a nesting mother and a full nest of unhatched eggs had been permitted to leave national boarders the first chance he had. Not only did it rankle against his pride as a Chinese wizard (even if he hadn't bothered to use it since dedicating his life to martial arts rather than magic), but the fact the idiots had lost _three_ nests and allowed real eggs to be used as mere props angered him greatly.

At least they had the sense to consult someone who knew more about magical creatures and beasts than they did themselves. Someone with decades of _practical_ experience handling, hatching/birthing and raising their young before releasing them into the wilds of their natural habitat.

"And his physical condition?"

"Food and actual training will do most of the work. He's in _decent_ shape, but once Lal or Colonello get through with him..." said Fon.

For someone like Fon to say he was in 'decent' shape meant that he was in much better condition than Daniela had expected. It was a very hopeful assessment.

"I've also been working on teaching him Chinese. He seems to be rather quick at learning languages, surprisingly."

Fon had been very pleased with that. It had been amusing when Xanxus joined in, though his pronunciation was positively atrocious and Fon had immediately gone to great pains to correct it at the first chance.

The older teen didn't really join in as much, seeing as how Daniela had specifically hired Fon to help her nephew who would be joining Mafia School for a trial period of one year once he finished training for a few months under either Lal Mirch or Colonello, but occasionally Fon found himself with two students. Usually though Xanxus acted as Harry's sparring partner, and only ever joined in as an extra when it came to learning Chinese.

Varia requirements specifically stated that all members had to know at _least_ seven languages on top of being able to kill. Xanxus was _passable_ in Chinese, but with Fon's help had become closer to almost fluent in it. Give him another month or two and he'd be much better at it.

Harry would have a full week of down time, partly so he could get adjust to the fact he'd never be seeing Hogwarts again but also to finish arrangements with Lal Mirch or Colonello about training, before he'd be dumped on the one of the two for at _least_ three full months or until they deemed him ready. He'd get another week of downtime after that before he was sent to Mafia School to hopefully make connections and with any luck, bond with Guardians.

Daniela was giving him free reign on that front, as opposed to shoving various allied Elements on him and waiting for a bond to happen or him to show a little interest in the idea. Considering the mess her son had made of his own children (save for Xanxus, who didn't give a crap and actually HAD Guardian bonds), that was a wise move on her part.

As it was, Timoteo Vongola had washed his hands of his cousin and was apparently going to turn a blind eye unless he had to since it meant his mother would leave him alone as long as she had her new 'toy' to play with and train.

* * *

"So you're the new Vongola heir, kora! You seem to be a bit of a scarecrow!"

Harry gave him a flat look.

"And you seem to be a runt with delusions of adequacy, going by the size of that gun," he deadpanned.

Daniela didn't even try to keep a straight face. She started howling.

Before Colonello could get a shot in (whether by kicking the brat for that comment, or to start a verbal game of one-uppage), Falco flew in and Harry's boredom turned into full interest.

"Is that an eagle?" he asked with open interest.

"His name's Falco, kora."

Harry grinned. He might like this instructor after all, because he gave a sharp whistle...which had Hedwig landing primly on his shoulder much the same way Falco was sitting calmly on Colonello's helmet.

"Her name is Hedwig."

The two predatory birds sized one another up, before an open truce was made between them.

Colonello gave the owl a once over before he grinned.

"She's a beautiful little lady," he said appreciatively.

"And yours is a handsome one, and very well behaved," said Harry grinning.

"Harry here has shown a natural aptitude for sniping. Though the same can't be said for the smaller calibers," said Daniela.

Colonello's grin was positively vicious.

"So what does the former Vongola Donna want with me anyway? Lal didn't give me any specifics, kora."

"Harry is formerly civilian. I want you to treat him like any other new recruit and get his conditioning up and acclimatized to how the mafia does things for at least three months. Especially since I'll be sending him to Mafia School once he's done training with you."

"You're leaving me with an Active Sky for conditioning?" said Colonello surprised.

"My son has made enough of a mess with his own children and botched things entirely with his adopted son. I refuse to let him handle Harry's training when I could arrange competent people to do it and with half the headaches. If he happens to form Guardian bonds, that's not my problem."

Colonello raised an eyebrow at that.

"You're letting _him_ find his own Guardians, rather than parading a bunch of loose, but allied Elements near him?" he said in disbelief. That was a new one.

"I have trust issues. Legitimate ones," said Harry shrugging. "If I'm going to be stuck with a group of people because of some sort of spiritual glue, I would rather it be people I can both tolerate and actually _trust_ to be loyal without having to rely on the whole Sky Attraction thing."

Colonello liked this kid more and more already.

Daniela suddenly remembered something.

"I almost forgot... Harry isn't a very good swimmer. He never had lessons before he came to live with us, and at most he can dog-paddle at the moment."

"So no throwing him into the shark-area?" said Colonello with disappointment.

"Wait... you have actual _sharks_ in a specific area? I thought this island supposedly moved on a circuit? How do you keep them from swimming off to other waters outside of migratory patterns?"

Colonello blinked.

"I...honestly have no idea. I think they mostly tend to stick around because we regularly toss idiots too stupid not to get killed on the island into their feeding area, or whenever the place gets invaded and the familigia responsible doesn't bother to claim the bodies," admitted Colonello. He had never thought about it much. He just knew that the sharks were usually around, though the species generally varied. Tigers and great whites were fairly common though. "How good an aptitude for sniping?"

"Do you know what quidditch is?" asked Harry.

"Some ridiculous magical sport several of the first gens love, though they do have a pitch _somewhere_ outside the beaten path. Why?" asked Colonello.

"I'm a seeker. Have been since I was eleven. Only took me three shots before I was able to take into account wind resistance and movement well enough to play merry hell with the Acromantula colony while I was on one of the towers," said Harry.

"What's an Acromantula?" asked Colonello, almost certain he wouldn't be liking the answer.

"Big. Freaking. Spider. As in bigger than most cars when fully grown. Openly consider humans a food source," said Harry, summing it up nicely.

Colonello shuddered at the thought. He hated spiders at the best of times!

"They were really fun to explode with large caliber bullets," admitted Harry. That got Colonello grinning. "Though not nearly as fun as conspiring with Reborn to 'liven up' the Vongola Christmas party before Auntie dropped the bomb on her son that he had a cousin who was also an active candidate as heir."

Colonello gaped at him.

"That was _you_? Lal was actually howling when she mentioned that party!" said Colonello.

"I have cupcakes that can turn people into canaries for five full minutes with no ill effects and a pair of Mists all too happy to supply temporary pranks so long as they get records of what the effects are on unwilling vic... I mean test subjects. Constant Vigilance after all," said Harry with a straight face.

Colonello did not bother to hide his reaction. This was going to be _fun_.

His unholy cackling sent shivers of doom down the spines of all the security forces on the island. Something horrible and almost certainly humiliating had happened.

An unholy alliance had been formed.


	13. Chapter 13

Xanxus had to dodge some random idiot running as if their sanity depended on it.

It would seem Harry had gotten _worse_ with a willing and able cohort in mischief. If he somehow managed to harmonize with Reborn of all people, Xanxus would honestly _not_ be in the least bit surprised.

That asshole lived for chaos and enjoyed every minute of it.

It took him a few moments to locate his little brother. The two of them were too close to be considered cousins and even looked a lot alike with their unruly hair.

Harry was moderately covered in what could only be paint from a paint ball gun...and to his open amusement Colonello had a few hits on him too. The two nuts were clearly enjoying themselves far too much, though the other mooks sure as hell weren't.

"Xanxus! What are you doing here?"

"Did you even check the date?" he asked.

Harry blinked, before looking at Colonello.

"What is today's date anyway? I haven't been keeping track at all with how much fun we've been having."

"July thirty-first, kora," grinned Colonello.

"Wait, _what_?" said Harry in disbelief. He was fifteen and hadn't known it?

"Nonna had a feeling you'd forget what day it was. Happy fifteenth little brother," said Xanxus smirking.

"How can you forget your own birthday, kora?" asked Colonello openly amused.

"I've never had anyone to really celebrate it with before. Most of the time I just stay up to count the seconds off till midnight before going about my day. It's only been recently that people started to notice I have one," said Harry shrugging.

And by that he meant within the past three years or so, which was awesome and somewhat depressing because he had no idea how you were supposed to react to that sort of thing.

"Well in that case consider training cut off for the day. Go enjoy the park with your brother for a bit... I might even join you later," said Colonello.

He had figured out pretty early on Harry had been in an abusive home before the Vongola took him in. Wasn't that hard to recognize the signs.

Colonello, rather than offer a sympathetic shoulder to cry on, had gone the tried and true soldier route of therapy.

He offered alcohol and a non-judgmental shoulder of someone who actually cared, but wasn't going to butt in unless asked first. Some things were simply _too_ personal for people you trusted, but were too busy with their own shit to actually bother asking for help because you just KNEW it would end up badly if you did.

Harry, like any other soldier suffering trauma but had learned to bury that crap deep enough to pretend everything was fine, had gotten so black out drunk that he didn't remember a thing come morning save for the hangover. All he did know was that he felt far lighter like a load had been taken off his back, which had been the entire point.

Being able to vent to someone who understood but wouldn't pry did wonders for his anger issues, especially since once the hangover was fully gone Colonello took him out to the range he had set up for sniping and let him play with explosive ammunition instead of the regular kind to just vent with some mindless destruction.

That had more or less kept the ticking time bomb that was Harry's saint-like patience from snapping in a horrific manner at the worst possible time. Which was even more dangerous because when a Sky snapped, it was always a nightmare because they'd drag unbound Elements down with them.

The Sky would try to drag Elements in, to restore the balance in their Harmony and if the Elements were too weak then it would send them into Discord or unbalance them in terrible ways where they would need to be hospitalized. It was bad enough that if it happened, the Vindice were almost _certainly_ going to get involved to find out what happened and why.

So yeah, Colonello was very partial to the kid but not to the point he let him skive off training without a good reason. Harry was far more well adjusted than most would be after the shit he went through before he became a Vongola and that was likely because his Harmony had gone through the wringer to keep his soul and sanity intact without snapping.

Besides... the pranks that the mystery twins kept sending him were _hilarious_ and he heartily approved of the concept of Constant Vigilance to the point he made it a training exercise for Harry to use said pranks and not get caught, while the other poor bastards had to _avoid_ them.

Colonello now had several volumes worth of potential blackmail that he was never getting rid of.

* * *

Harry stared at the little Storm kid Xanxus had brought with him...both because of how recent the bond was, but also because apparently "Belphegor" was a temperamental brat...for about a full fifteen seconds before he couldn't resist the first urge that came to him.

"He's so adorably homicidal! Where did you find him?" asked Harry, promptly scooping the very startled Prince into a hug.

"He showed up out of the blue in Varia headquarters, proceeded to stab anyone who looked at him funny, and kept snickering until I came down and gave his sorry ass a good hiding. He's been acting like a lost puppy ever since," said Xanxus bluntly. "And you are channeling Nonna far too much again... she had the same reaction the second she found out I had an eight-year-old royal for a Storm."

"Unhand the Prince, peasant," growled Belphegor.

Harry's eyes gleamed.

"Considering you're here and not in the Carpathian mountains, I would really reconsider being such a complete brat, _Prince_ Gabriel," said Harry grinning evilly. "Especially as you are addressing the head of the Ancient and Noble House of Potter and Heir to the Ancient and Noble House of Black."

Belphegor froze completely.

He took a much better look at Harry before he said slowly...

"Apologizes. I was unaware that you were of equal status."

"Apology accepted. Now from what I recall of your particular line, you have some vampire lineage in you correct?"

"Yes, though it's thinned out considerably," said Belphegor. He was far more relaxed than Xanxus was used to seeing.

"I bet we can convince Auntie to let us borrow a real Iron Maiden to play with by throwing rapists and pedophiles in to be turned into pin cushions," said Harry, eyes gleaming.

Belphegor blinked twice, before a very bloodthirsty grin came upon his face.

"Ushishishi... I was unaware that the blood of the Black family ran thicker in you than the Potter."

"More like I have a very strong interest in medieval torture devices. It's very relaxing imagining the people who screwed me over as a child being victims of such interesting ways of maiming and killing people and a fascinating look into how humanity has evolved when it comes to completely destroying someone utterly," said Harry, eyes gleaming.

"I swear you and Nonna have _the_ weirdest hobbies."

"You're just amused because you know perfectly well that we'd turn disposing of the corpses into a family bonding experience," said Harry with a straight face. Xanxus snorted at that. "Coincidentally if it doesn't work out with you and the prince, can I keep him?"

"Why not. He seems to actually be behaving around you."

"We're on equal status, or close to it. He respects you for being a dragon in your own right and powerful besides. He respects me because my bloodline is longer than his and has pumped out several powerful and noteworthy people with consistency. Compared to the Vongola, the Potter and the Black families have been around for much longer. It's only recently that our prestige has gone on the decline and most of that is because Dumbledore is a complete moron."

"Ushishishi...the peasant who runs magical England is absolutely pathetic and not worth the Prince's time," snickered Belphegor, relaxing in Harry's presence.

"Oh he's worth our time... when he's a victim of one of the many, many ways people have died over the years. I'm thinking a bronze goat, similar to the bronze bulls the Greeks used with a low-burning fire made of Wrath Flames," said Harry cheerfully. "Or maybe dragon fire."

"Ushishishi!"

Belphegor clearly liked Harry a lot. Enough that he was ignoring the fact that Harry was basically cuddling with him, which said volumes of how comfortable Harry felt around the kid he had only just met.

"I can now see who I'm going to be dumping him on when he's being a particularly annoying little shit," said Xanxus dryly.

If this was an indication of the people Harry took to, then maybe it would be easier to simply let his little brother visit the Varia regularly (not that he wouldn't do that already) and have him spar with his Sky flames around Xanxus with random people popping it.

Xanxus would bet that his little brother would get a 'hit' from a potential Guardian without having to parade him around like more dons did.

He was a spare heir, one so low on the totem pole that it wasn't 'time-critical' that he fill his Guardian spots. The fact he was civilian until now meant that most families would be even less inclined to send their children to see if he was potentially interested.

Sure, the fact he was a bloodline Vongola made him an attractive target, but he was so new that most would be more interested in trying to use his hormones against him than bother with Guardians.

It was rather interesting... Belphegor only really "behaved" around Xanxus, yet he was openly calm and rather well mannered around Harry. Which was odd considering Xanxus _knew_ for a fact that the brat had harmonized with him, not his little brother.

* * *

 _Harry POV..._

He officially LOVED his birthday for once. Mafia Land was awesome and Daniela had given him a _ridiculous_ spending limit which was apparently normal for Vongola children to have after the first month. The fact his grades had only shot up from what he considered normal meant that he was likely to get 'bonuses' for not hiding his actual intelligence.

Colonello clearly talked to Fon though. He gave Harry time to study, quizzed him in between combat and sniping lessons and then tricked him into taking what he later found out were _college level_ classes online rather than the high school ones he originally assumed they were.

Considering he wasn't around anyone else while doing his homework or his tests, and he studied solo, it was surprisingly easy to let his usual habits drop when it came to actually showing off what he knew.

Colonello didn't care about his grades, but he felt like he had something to prove when it came to Xanxus and Daniela. He _wanted_ them to be proud of him.

As promised, Colonello _did_ manage to free up some time and spend it with his favorite enabler.

Apparently Reborn wasn't the only Arcobaleno who thoroughly enjoyed chaos... Colonello _loved_ having reasons to make the recruit's lives absolutely miserable in the name of training.

...In between grilling Harry about ideas for what to send the woman he had been trying to woo for the better part of two decades. Clearly what he was doing _wasn't_ working and he was desperate enough to ask for an unbiased outside opinion. And it had never occurred to him to try the Victorian Flower Language.

Harry had a lot of fun helping Colonello pick which flowers to send Lal Mirch for her birthday. And the only hint as to who sent them was a picture of a sniper's rifle, rather than an overt "I Love You" message with cheesy serenade.

The fact Lal had actually _kept_ them until they were too wilted to keep around said a lot and gave Colonello _some_ hope that she might eventually return his affections.

"Why do you know so much about medieval torture devices, kora?" asked Colonello.

"Blame Daniela. She left one of her books out by accident when I first came to stay with her and I was openly fascinated to the point she had a few well-deserving victims brought in for the chamber she had built to screw with her son," said Harry.

Xanxus openly cackled at that.

"Should have seen the fucker's face when he found out she had corrupted _Harry_ to the point she's going to will her personal villa to him when she goes. Most of her good shit is in the basement and he had this pained, horrified look when he found out she had an actual torture chamber in her house...especially when she offered to let him watch or at least help dispose of the bodies as a 'family bonding experience'."

He had been present to that particular discussion along with Sirius, who had merely shaken his head and told the woman she would get along great with most of the Black clan. The fact he didn't pale at the sight of the devices _in use_ said quite a bit about their own practices.

Timoteo couldn't leave the house fast enough, to the open amusement of the boys and Daniela. Half of it was to screw with her son and give him headaches, the rest was out of boredom and the cheerful knowledge she was 'cleaning out the trash' so to speak.

She had seen the special chambers in Auschwitz, among others, shortly after they raided the place. Nazis were the reason she had developed an interest in torture since they deserved it far more than anyone else she had met for being hypocritical assholes of the highest order.

If anything she found it rather cathartic and it helped to give her a more level head when dealing with people who genuinely pissed her off but she couldn't outright have killed for political reasons. Much like Harry she found it relaxing to imagine said fools in her special chamber and the screams they'd make when she was through with them.

"Ushishishi."

"That...is beyond horrifying," said Colonello flatly.

"Imagine some of the asshole superiors you had in the past who abused their powers being given what's actually coming to them," suggested Harry. "To quote Daniela, 'I ran out of fucks to give about those assholes long before I met them, so why not make their deaths interesting and an education about how the human body works.'"

Colonello stared, before clearly imagining that.

"Suddenly it's less horrifying and almost sounds like fun... if you're a complete sadist who enjoys that thing."

"Or a Black. Sirius didn't even bat an eye when he saw the chamber and actually gave Nonna _ideas_ ," said Xanxus. "Which is why whenever the Varia needs lessons on torture and painful interrogation I'm sending them to Harry once Nonna is through with him."

"Aw, you do love me!" said Harry with a chirp.

"If they can't handle your warped sense of humor, then they aren't Quality," said Xanxus flatly.


	14. Chapter 14

It said a lot about Harry's until-now hidden love of some rather graphic torture (he had years of repressed anger to work off, legitimate anger at that) that the first thing he did upon meeting Xanxus' Sun Guardian was to strike up a conversation with the obviously gay teen involving disposal of dead bodies.

Or in Luss' rather disturbing case, the fact that he was more interested in necrophilia with a certain type rather than the living. Or he just liked seeing how certain outfits looked without the fussiness of the living getting in his way.

Xanxus did not know which case it was, and for the sake of his mental sanity (learning about his Nonna and little brother's weird hobbies even existing was enough for him so long as details were never provided unasked) he did not _care_. As long as Lussuria kept his weird ass hobbies to himself and didn't corrupt Harry more than his grandmother had, they could chat as long as they liked.

Harry hadn't even batted an eye at the decent number of corpses in Luss' room. In fetish gear. All of which were around his age or slightly older but thankfully did _not_ look like him in the least.

Instead he had struck up a conversation on how exactly Lussuria avoided the inevitable "issues" that came up when dealing with corpses, specifically the putrefaction problem and the occasional festering disease.

Corpses tended to mold, grow horrible pathogens and cause untold problems for anyone living in the general vicinity. It was why the Varia Castle was regularly sweeped for the damn things before they were used for the Storms to practice disposal on or thrown into the mass grave near the back woods where the dead bodies wouldn't cause a mess. Occasionally they found a mummified one, but that wasn't very often.

Xanxus had the sinking feeling that his own Guardians were going to love his little brother just as much as they did him. It was a rather strange feeling and reaffirmed the idea that having Harry spar regularly around the main Varia training rooms with other Elements around might help to fill his own Sky.

On the plus side, Blaise had happily disposed of that asshole Ottabio within the first week of finishing the requirements for being Varia Quality and was quietly clearing out anyone who was even remotely loyal to the now-confirmed traitorous Cloud. The fact that the rest of the Clouds liked him more than the guy he killed said volumes.

Apparently Blaise's mother had no problem whatsoever of her son being the Varia Cloud Officer... in fact she had sent her blessings.

"I think I might miss being in Mafia School," said Squalo. Xanxus shot him a weird look. "I'm going to miss out on all the chaos your little brother is about to inflict on those poor idiots."

"You could always ask Dino to start carrying a camera. Isn't he going to be sharing your old room with him?"

Dino had no roommate after Squalo tested out early and took over the Varia (no sane person wanted to share the same dorm room as Reborn for good reason), so Daniela worked her magic and had the school put Harry in as his future roommate, since Dino was still a student. Not only did it mean partial protection via Reborn, who was rather fond of Harry despite meeting him only once, but it also meant that Harry had two friendly faces he could trust and hopefully talk to. They were also sharing some of the same classes, which made it even better.

But right now Xanxus had to deal with the headache that Luss and Harry got along far too well for anyone's sanity all because their hobbies partially crossed.

Or that Harry openly offered to have a few "idiots who didn't deserve to contaminate the world-wide gene pool" that fit the general criteria of the corpses Luss favored saved so that the Sun could keep them for his own private collection...after he had his fun with them of course.

Hearing the happy squeals from _that_ would give Xanxus nightmares, he was sure of it.

Thank god the Weasley twins were all too happy to source him a lot of good magical whiskey and other alcohol when asked. Provided they were bribed well of course. Thanks to the fact all of Timoteo's Guardians were clearly "muggle" and the old bastard being a squib, they would never find Xanxus' stash of real booze instead of that weak wine that the old man "allowed" whenever he was forced to stay overnight.

Xanxus did _not_ give a shit that he was technically underage. He just loved the fact he had mastered the wandless switching charm every time he had to go near his father or Coyote.

Dealing with his little brother when he was in his sadist mode was enough to make anyone drink, especially when Daniela got involved with open encouragement for things he'd rather not think about.

* * *

Dino was decidedly nervous, and for good reason. His new roommate was someone that Squalo, Xanxus _and_ Reborn heartily liked and approved of, despite being a civilian before the Vongola were alerted to his existence.

The first two weren't so bad... it was the fact Reborn openly admitted to liking the guy that had his nerves shot to hell.

He expected someone who looked a lot like Xanxus or something like the three older Vongola heirs, just with green eyes (Reborn had been very specific about that detail)...and saw a clearly British kid with some of Daniela Vongola's features and an owl.

"Are you lost?" he asked in accented English.

The guy turned to face him and he was hit with the most expressive and brilliant green eyes he had ever seen in his life.

"Hi Reborn!" said the kid cheerfully in fluent Italian.

"Ciaossu. I see playing with that idiot Colonello was good for you," said Reborn grinning. He was clearly remembering the Christmas Party.

"I know a pair of identical twins who now live in Italy who will be happy to source you all your chaotic pranking needs," said Harry dead serious.

Reborn was radiating such pure mischief and chaos that Dino had to whimper.

"And odds are they'd be happy to give you a discount if you use Hedwig," said Harry.

"So are you my new roommate?" asked Dino, hoping he was wrong.

"Hi, I'm Harry Black," he said, holding out his hand. Dino shook it and mentally resigned himself to a new form of hell soon.

"Dino Cavallone," he said, shaking it.

"This is Hedwig. She is smarter than most people I know and might be inclined to send any letters you may have if you ask politely and bribe her well with bacon and affection," said Harry, holding his owl on a closed fist.

"She's gorgeous," said Dino honestly. And she was...the bird was an absolute beauty.

Hedwig turned to look right at him, giving further credence to the 'smarter than most people' thing he had mentioned, and actually let Dino pet her without trying to savage him.

"I almost forgot... Squalo wanted to know if you'd be willing to tape the entire first month I'm here until people find out where I stand on the 'unofficial pecking order'," said Harry.

"Why?" asked Dino baffled.

"Because he said and I quote 'It's going to be fucking hilarious and I almost wish I was still in school to witness the breakdown of the idiots personally'," said Harry with a grin. "Xanxus seemed to agree...he helped pick the camera."

"Well if Stupid-Dino doesn't, I will," said Reborn with open glee. The fact he was openly anticipating the chaos said far too much.

Dino didn't bother to hide his whimper at the thought.

Harry's face went something closer to sympathetic.

"So long as you don't snore or irritate me to the point I try to smother you in your sleep, I'll try to keep your involvement in my chaos to a minimum. I make no promises if you stumble across something I set up in advance though."

Dino blinked. That was rather nice of him.

"What?"

"I've lived with the Weasley Twins in the same dorm area for four years. You're already suffering enough with a chaos magnet as your personal tutor. Besides, you'll get hit hard with enough headaches if Luna ends up coming as well... it's really up for debate whether she's my Cloud or my Mist."

"Did you get the tour yet?" asked Dino, changing the subject.

"Not yet. I wanted to settle in first and disable any traps Reborn will have almost certainly set because he knows I can handle it and won't take it personally," said Harry.

Reborn smirked.

With the efficiency of being a prankster himself, Harry removed all the little 'surprises' Reborn had set, to the surprise of Dino.

This was one of many, many reasons why no one wanted to room with him after Squalo left. He had tested out early to get _away_ from Reborn's antics as much as prove himself to the Varia so he could hand it over to Xanxus.

Much to Dino's relief, despite being an obvious prankster to the point he could understand _Reborn's_ sense of humor and knew how the man's mind worked to the point he could disable the traps, and the many, many ominous signs of being caught in more chaos, Dino found himself _liking_ Harry.

The boy was polite, very well mannered and had a lot of patience. He didn't care much about politics or supposed manners and simply gave the guys who always tormented Dino when he first came to the school a cool stare down that had Dino envious for multiple reasons because it was practically _screaming_ "You are beneath me in all ways, but I'm going to let you dig yourself a nice deep grave when it comes to asking for favors later, idiot."

Reborn looked like he wanted to applaud, in all honesty.

And then some moron brought up the subject of Guardians.

Dino would honestly say this was a changing point in his life, because Harry's view on Guardian bonds had even _Reborn_ thinking hard about what they really meant.

"Auntie has agreed to let me pick my own Guardians, rather than try to force a bond to happen. Though from what I've heard, most Skies try to force the bond to happen, rather than let it occur naturally. We're talking about people's _souls_ here...I'm sure it hurts in a way that takes a long, long time to heal if the bond is rejected because one party is too strong or they're simply incompatible. If I want Guardians, I'd rather the bond be built on actual trust and respect, rather than force it. After all, we're going to be stuck with each for the rest of our lives, however short they may be."

Harry paused.

"Though I definitely heard my brother Xanxus saying something about throwing me into the deep end in the Varia training halls when they were working on Flames...something about how I seem to have a knack for picking up people most wouldn't."

"I sense an interesting story there," said Reborn with glee.

"I think it had something to do with the fact I was openly discussing medieval torture methods with his new Storm, since I know for a _fact_ Belphegor's country does still practice torture and he would have had to learn some of it as one of the royal heirs. Or it could have been the fact I was discussing things Xanxus really didn't want to listen to unless he was black out drunk with his Sun," admitted Harry.

"Isn't torture banned by the Geneva Convention?" asked one person.

"That implies that bodies are left behind to be identified as victims or that anyone who saw the torture chamber I know damn well my aunt has in her basement left alive. She considers disposing of the bodies a good way to bond as a family," said Harry with a straight face.

After that people gave him a _very_ wide berth. It wasn't like Daniela wouldn't admit to having a torture chamber in the basement, if only to give her son headaches for the fun of it.

Besides, the Vongola were notably one of the bloodiest and most powerful familigias around. If one of their dons happened to have a torture chamber in their personal basement where they still used the old methods, that was their own damn business and to hell what anyone had to say about it.

The plus side in Harry's delightful opinion, the news that Vongola Ottavo indulged in a bit of discreet medieval torture and that she had managed to corrupt him into joining her, was enough to get most of the more vapid and obvious females who'd sleep with damn near anyone if it meant marrying into the Vongola to avoid him like the plague. Clearly they thought he'd try to corrupt them into it and they wanted no part of that.

Reborn was openly snickering when they were in the dorm room again.

"You did that deliberately."

"Actually I was being entirely honest about that. Auntie _does_ have a torture chamber in the basement of her personal villa and did get me and Xanxus to practice disposing of bodies so that no one knew she'd been playing with them before they died as a family bonding activity," admitted Harry. "But the fact it got the school bicycles to avoid me like the plague was a very nice bonus. I was mostly giving them the standard disclaimer that pissing me off would result in me indulging in my paternal grandmother's side of the family's odd habits. The Black family has some very clear rules about this sort of thing."

"Really?" said Reborn with open fascination.

"Mostly it boils down to 'don't disgrace the family by being caught' and 'don't let it go to your head to the point you become more of a liability than someone with a few dark habits'," said Harry with a straight face. "The Blacks are related to the Druids and several other bloody historical figures, and since they're a magical line most of the old tomes are still around. I know for a fact that the heirs are supposed to be well grounded in curses and other spells to cause a lot of damage to our enemies."

Sirius was reluctantly catching his godson up on said spells. So long as Harry didn't become a dark lord without a damn good reason (I/E: the alternatives were worse), he could pretend his godson hadn't taken more to his Black heritage than the Potter. Though considering the Vongola's own history, it was likely his Vongola and Black blood had simply meshed so well that the Potter blood was being ignored for the most part.

It really, really didn't help that his upbringing brought the more 'dark' side of those two bloodlines out, mostly out of self-preservation.

"You are terrifying, but in a good way," said Dino flatly.

From what he could tell, Harry had a _very_ long fuse. So long as he didn't do anything to really, really piss the guy off he was more or less safe. Not from pranks, but he had the feeling that with Reborn as his home tutor he'd be spared from most of the more humiliating ones.

"Thanks. Did you know my father's family actually _breeds_ pegasi?"

"Pegasus are real?" asked Dino with almost sparkles in his eyes.

"Pegasi, Unicorns, hell, there was even a centaur herd in the forest outside my school. I even met a Cerberus once, though why Hagrid named that poor thing Fluffy I'll never get."

Squalo had mentioned Dino had a strong love of horses.

Seeing he had Dino's undivided interest, Harry expanded on what little he knew of magical creatures. It didn't take long before Dino practically begged to see a real, live pegasus.

Harry wondered what the blond would think of thestrals. On the plus side, at least his roommate didn't seem nearly as freaked out by him as he had when he first came in.


	15. Chapter 15

"Prince Belphegor!"

Belphegor sat up straight and went almost _rigid_ at the tone alone. He knew that voice.

He slowly turned to find a less-than-amused Harry...with Reborn on his shoulder. Dino was watching the entire thing with amusement while carrying a camera.

And to think he had only agreed to come to this peasant school because he knew the Ottavo had sent Harry here.

"Your highness, you know perfectly well that only _peasants_ would be so crass as to let themselves be seen causing such a dreadful havoc. It gives them _ideas_ above their station," scolded Harry.

Translation: you were being a brat and not subtle enough if you want to cause proper havoc. If you're that bored come visit me and we'll set up pranks and not get busted for it later.

Belphegor looked like a wet cat and openly pouted.

"Yes cousin," he said petulantly.

"You're still young, so mistakes are allowable," said Harry, patting him on the head.

"Cousin?" said Reborn curiously.

"Landed gentry with several ties to royalty that are long dead. However with how anal-retentive both sides of my father's family were, it's easier to just stick to 'cousin' rather than mess with titles no one even remembers anymore outside certain circles," explained Harry.

In short he did have 'royal' blood, but it was so old and tied to countries that no longer existed and meant that any titles that _could_ have gone with them were invalidated. However he _was_ still nobility of old blood and even older money, so it was acceptable for him to address Belphegor as his cousin despite not having any blood between them.

It made things so much less confusing all around and explained why the bratty Prince the Ripper actually _listened_ to Harry.

Reborn was clearly fascinated.

"I can get a book on our family history if you're interested," offered Harry.

"Definitely. It sounds like it would be an interesting read."

It was a little known fact Reborn was something of a bibliophile. Harry had caught him reading more than once, some of them very difficult books in multiple languages. If Reborn noticed the fact Harry left him something new to read with languages long considered 'dead' like Ancient Greek along with an accompanying dictionary, he said nothing.

Dino had _definitely_ picked up on the fact that Reborn was usually in a better mood after he started noticing the extra books lying around in languages he didn't have a chance in hell of reading anytime soon, because he started taking note of his tutor's reading preferences purely so he could put the Sun Arcobaleno in a better mood himself...and hopefully get a slightly downgraded training session.

Though Dino was privately making bets with Xanxus, Daniela _and_ Squalo on when Reborn and Harry started harmonizing. The two got along far too well for it not to happen, even partially. Besides, even he could tell that Harry's Flames were _very_ strong and he was barely keeping it reigned in to avoid accidentally bonding with people he might not even want.

Strong enough to possibly snag even Reborn, who had overpowered even the Vongola in strength.

"How do you get the royal bratling to behave anyway?"

"He respects Xanxus, and once I explained who I was related to and my status in the family he realized I was considered an equal to his own status as prince. Basically it all boils down to the fact I _technically_ outrank him. The rest comes from the fact he realized we were close to kindred spirits and I recognized him on sight and used his _original_ name rather than the one Xanxus gave him."

"Actually it's because your magic makes you feel furry, like a large tiger, and I heard a rumor that _you're_ the reason Boss is currently training a Hungarian Horntail as a pet slash guard dog," said Belphegor. "And that Boss may have alluded to a second egg still being in stasis."

"Wait... he still _has_ the dragon? So Sky Flames actually do have an effect on making it possible to train them?" said Harry in open interest.

"Wait, you mean that rumor that the Varia has an _actual_ dragon is real?!" said Dino incredulous.

"My old school was stupid enough to use real dragon eggs as props, and naturally the second Xanxus found out they were using nesting mothers he insisted on swiping a few eggs. We made off with three of them, one of each breed they used. Fon-sensei mentioned something about returning the Chinese Fireball to the Emperor. From what I heard he was _very_ pissed finding out that the British Ministry had managed to take one of the symbols of the Chinese royal house out of the country and then proceeded to _lose_ the nest and ruined the mother's eye."

"Ushishishi... Pissed is an understatement. The British Ministry, last I heard, is now persona non grata until they make appropriate reparations for the lost eggs and the damaged dragon. In fact the Emperor might even ban all English magicals from the country if they do something to further anger him," said Belphegor. "The fact you managed to save an egg unintentionally _and_ hand it over to the appropriate wizard means you might be better received, but anyone else would have to watch out until they replace the Emperor."

"...The Emperor was kicked off the throne when the Communists took over," said Reborn.

"The non-magical idiots kicked him off. However the magicals aren't stupid enough to do something like that when they know damn well that the Emperor or at least their line is _actually_ favored by certain gods so long as standards are kept. Feng-Huang haven't been seen in centuries, for multiple reasons, but the Chinese royal family do import phoenixes when possible," corrected Harry.

"I thought Hou-ou and phoenixes are the same thing?" said Reborn.

Belphegor snorted at that.

"Phoenixes _die_ and then are reborn. Hou-Ou's are immortal and only disappear when the human they've been sent to guide or act as the symbol for dies off," corrected Belphegor. He liked magical creatures, enough said. "To say nothing of the fact that Phoenixes are distinctly Middle Eastern and Arabic, whereas Hou-Ou are firmly Asian and belong to China and Japan."

Dino was utterly confused, but at least now he had some common ground with which to chat with the bratty Storm _without_ being knifed for it. If he wanted to, that is.

"How do you hatch a dragon egg?" asked Reborn.

"You have to keep it ridiculously warm... the one I saw hatched was kept in a small fireplace that was kept blazing hot. And dragons, much like my dear older brother, thrive on red meat and whiskey," said Harry amused. "They also grow up _very_ fast... the Norwegian Ridgeback I'm familiar with became the size of a small pony by the end of the first month. It was a total headache getting it up seven flights of stairs from the ground level considering how heavy Norberta was, but fortunately very few were aware that the groundskeeper had hatched a dragon in his hut."

"Now I have to hear this story... exactly how did your groundskeeper get a _dragon_ egg in the first place?" said Reborn fascinated.

Beside the two, Dino and Bel were sharing a look and mentally tallying the odds of the Sun Arcobaleno harmonizing with Harry.

So far, things were definitely pointing in that direction... Reborn actually _liked_ Harry and the two got along far too well for it to be a coincidence.

"I'm thinking of upping the amount I put in on them harmonizing," said Dino quietly.

"Ushishishi... if this is normal count me in as well. Is there a time frame?"

"There is, so far the odds are pretty set on sometime within the next year or so, give or take a few months," said Dino cheerfully.

* * *

It was thundering outside, and a massive storm was about to head in for the next two nights. Harry would have rolled over and ignored it, having long out grown the fear of thunderstorms...except he had this itch in the back of his head telling him to stay awake.

When he sensed a familiar presence outside the door, too proud to come in when he knew he was welcome (Reborn and Harry's prank traps were very much "break in at your own risk" since everything important or private were long since warded so heavily that no one was getting their claws on it without permission) he knew why.

Harry quietly slipped out of his bed, opened the door and scooped up the prince in his arms. Belphegor didn't even think twice... he was snuggling against Harry's neck, happily basking in the older boy's Sky in lieu of Xanxus being around. He flinched slightly at the loud crack of thunder.

Reborn and Dino, having woken up the _second_ that door opened, rolled over and went back to sleep when they registered who was in Harry's arms.

Psychotic assassin or not, Belphegor was still only _eight_ and it was only natural he'd seek comfort from the one person he trusted other than his Sky that he knew wouldn't say anything. The prince snuggled in next to Harry under the covers using him as a giant teddy bear and, Reborn would swear to this if asked, made what could only be purring sounds as Harry gently rubbed his back in a soothing gesture.

When morning came neither of them said a word and Belphegor seemed to appreciate that.

In the Varia, weakness was something to be exploited at the first opportunity and there were no few among his Storms who would delight in the chance to bring his ego down several pegs if they knew he was acting like the child he was.

Xanxus wouldn't give a damn, but Mists were gossips and Varia Mists were even worse, so if someone caught him sneaking into the teen's room for comforting it would almost certainly lead to all sorts of stupid rumors that he refused to subject the boss to.

Harry, however, was a safe alternative and wouldn't say a thing. That and he knew how much it hurt being one of two children in a home and being completely ignored in favor of the other child.

Rasiel had been doted on and everyone made so much fuss that Belphegor had been left on the sidelines unless someone mistook him for his 'older' twin. It had pissed him off to no end.

Bel would never admit that he enjoyed being 'cuddled' by Harry. Or that he didn't mind being called "adorably homicidal".

* * *

It was on Reborn's birthday, ironically enough, that it happened. Coincidentally Luna won the betting pool and was insufferably smug for weeks because of it.

Harry was handing the cake he had made (in the shape of Leon) and his hand brushed up against Reborn's...and they clicked.

Dino took one look at the expression on Reborn's face before he groaned.

"Now I've lost the betting pool!"

Reborn had his Leon-gun aimed at his student/victim with a Look.

"Ehehehe... it's not what it sounds like?"

"Start explaining Stupid-Dino, or I start shooting."

"It's nothing really! It's just... everyone saw how well the two of you got along and we all know Harry doesn't have a Sun, so Xanxus jokingly made a betting pool on when the two of you would harmonize or not. I think it's up to the five digit range when it comes to zeros, though there's no set betting limit."

"...There was a betting pool on whether we'd harmonize?"

"The two of you are literally thick as thieves. And Harry's ridiculously strong when it comes to Flames, so it was a valid bet. Especially since he made it clear he dislikes the current practice of courting to kick in out of self-preservation and prefers they happen naturally."

Harry made it clear he found the current 'method' of courting very distasteful. The Skies would slowly press their Flames into whatever Element they were interested in and eventually it would wear down the potential Guardian until they harmonized or snapped.

It was part of the major reason why most of the current Arcobaleno _hated_ being courted until it became clear that it would take someone of ridiculous willpower and purity to even handle them as Guardians. Which only fostered a sincere dislike of Skies in general, though most tended to hide that fact.

However Harry hadn't done that at all. He played pranks with (or on) Reborn, kept his Flames to himself, and occasionally went into massive paintball wars with the tiny Sun that usually dragged Dino, Belphegor and anyone else who was bored right into it.

Reborn blinked. And then poked at his Flames.

There was a feeling of acceptance, humor and the distinct knowledge that regardless of what a pain in the ass he was being at the time, he'd always have a place to crash when he had a crappy day.

It was more than he had ever gotten out of Luce. She had condemned them to looking like toddlers for the rest of their lives, and he had barely felt a connection at all with her.

Harry, rather than demand anything out of his new Sun, merely grinned.

"You do realize this means I'll be staying with Dino until your contract is up, right?"

Dino worked that through his head and paled. Before he started cursing rather vehemently.

Reborn grinned like the chaotic pain in the ass he was.

"I wonder if this means that you can harmonize with the others," mused Reborn.

"Well I know I felt _something_ while I was training with Fon and Colonello, but I didn't get anything off of Lal Mirch. And I haven't meet Viper, Verde or Skull yet," said Harry cheerfully.

Reborn was in a much better mood overall and shamelessly basked in the gentle warmth of Harry's Sky. Harry certainly didn't mind that Reborn was using him as a way to get around...short legs sucked.


	16. Chapter 16

The _second_ Fon heard Reborn had harmonized, he immediately booked a trip to Italy to get details. Colonello would have joined him, but he was busy training some new recruits and would be busy for at least two months.

Fon was not entirely shocked to learn Reborn's Sky was in fact the same boy he taught Chinese and martial arts to. Or that it had happened gradually rather than the usual method of pressing Flames onto a very unhappy Element.

They had a genuine bond between them, both of pranks, chaos and outright respect between each other.

Fon had felt _something_ twinge on his Flames before now, but had been unwilling to test his suspicions for fear that Harry wouldn't be strong enough to handle having him as his Storm. He couldn't take that heartache again. This though, this gave him hope.

Harry slid into one of the basic attack stances and waited for Fon to make the first move. They were playing it off as Fon testing his skills out of boredom.

Reborn knew perfectly well that Fon hoped to find his Sky at long last. The two had shared a common desire to find their Sky while commiserating when they realized it was highly unlikely to ever happen.

Dino couldn't help but stare as Fon and Harry sparred.

"Holy crap."

"And to think, Fon isn't being entirely serious. At least we know Harry is a dedicated student."

"Yeah, no I get that. I remember what he did to those three morons who were trying to sleep with some of the younger, more naive girls from minor mafia families simply because they were older and from more important famiglias," said Dino, wincing. Even if those guys totally deserved the asskicking Harry gave them before he comforted their potential new victims, it was still brutal as hell.

Reborn smirked. He had noticed his Sky (and he was still getting used to being able to say that... _his_ Sky) had taken aside their previous victims and helped them through counseling.

It helped that he was one of those rare Skies that kept their Flames to themselves when around unbonded Elements. He could radiate Harmony without risking Discord by accident. He actually listened to what they were saying and gave advice that seemed to work, or at least help a little.

Reborn was not surprised in the least when a few weeks after the incident, Harry became one of the designated 'student counselors' that the younger and newer students could go to for help in the school. The fact it meant he was in close proximity to potential Guardians was purely coincidence, he was sure.

Even with Belphegor often around him (the kid was a total menace when he wasn't around Harry) he was still one of the most popular ones to go to.

Reborn felt the echo along his bond with his Sky. He definitely sensed the change in Fon's Flames the _second_ it happened.

Pure, unadulterated _relief_ came off Fon...and no small measure of pride as a teacher for an attentive student.

And no, Reborn didn't bring up the fact Fon shamelessly cuddled with Harry that night. He did it himself the same night he realized what had happened.

It was nice...being able to sleep and bask in the gentle, but protective harmony of Harry's Sky.

Reborn had come to note that no two Skies felt the same...it had become a trick to figure out who he was dealing with without even entering the room.

Daniela felt like a grandmotherly, firm Sky that had been through hell and come out far stronger than before.

Xanxus had the feel of an angry dragon, one that was defending it's hoard with dark fervor...but one that had recently started to take the hints of a paladin, ironically enough. Harry's presence had started to firmly ground his Wrath into something less berserker and more protector.

Dino had a slightly happy, Sunny feel that reminded him of a gangly colt.

Harry though... Harry felt like the chaotic, untamed Sky that was pure freedom. The sense of falling and flying at the same time, and was filled with implacable resolve that would not hesitate to follow through to the end result, even if it meant his own death in the process. Once you were his, he would go to hell and back to see you safe.

It was a nice feeling.

* * *

Fon twitched, his mouth quirking up with open amusement as he heard some of the stories about Reborn and Harry's chaotic antics. Finally he couldn't hold it in anymore and started laughing.

"It would seem you two have found kindred spirits in each other. No wonder you harmonized," he said chuckling.

"I have the feeling Colonello would be next if he wasn't currently busy with the greenhorns," said Harry. "I felt a connection with him while we were blowing things up in the name of anger management."

"...Do I want to know?" asked Reborn.

"Let me put it this way... his last school was a travesty to the idea and everyone automatically saw him as the next coming of Merlin despite the fact he has zero inclination to being their poster boy," deadpanned Fon. "I've seen backwater enclaves with better education for their children. It was that appalling."

"I would defend it...except even my magical tutors were beyond horrified how low the standards have become for the English. I'm pretty sure there was some mention of having _everyone_ who graduated since Riddle fell the first time re-tested for competency by the ICW. They are not happy having to deal with him a second time, since Dumbledore laid on his ass and did nothing actually constructive."

In fact the entire situation was _worse_ now, because Dumbledore's idiocy had thoroughly infected the English Enclaves.

Belphegor slunk in like a wet cat.

"I'm not trying to replace you with Fon, Bel. Besides, you and I both know Xanxus is your Sky. I just happen to resonate on a similar enough frequency that your Flames like mine just as much," said Harry, pulling the now nine and a half year old Storm into a hug.

Having been reassured he wasn't being replaced, Bel snuggled into his hold.

He liked Harry's hugs. They were nice, warm and they didn't flinch away whenever he laughed. It wasn't a stretch to say Belphegor had become far more stable (sanity wise) since he found Xanxus...and it only became better when he met Harry for the first time. The two older Skies had a weird resonance going where they fed off each other and amplified their own Skies.

"I was under the impression that the Varia Storm Officer was unhinged," said Fon.

"He's not even ten, and he's actually schizophrenic. Once we figured that much out, and got him the proper medication, he's still adorably homicidal but he's gotten a lot better. I blame inbreeding among the nobility, to be honest," said Harry. "That, and he finds being around me relaxing to the point he doesn't hide behind his rank among the civilians."

"Ushishishi. I don't 'hide' behind being a prince around you because you rank me," corrected Belphegor.

Sirius abdicated in favor of his heir, and Harry had passed his secondary exams, thus labeling him a "full adult" despite not being seventeen yet. As such he was automatically upgraded from Heir status to the Head of two Ancient and Noble lines. Belphegor was from an Ancient and Royal line...a minor one anyway... but Harry outranked him in terms of nobility.

Xanxus ranked him as his magical and legal Guardian, that and Belphegor was openly aware of the fact he wasn't as strong as the Boss. Hence why he behaved around the Dragon of the Vongola, as he was becoming known.

(A nickname not at all helped by the fact he had an actual _dragon_ guarding the Varia castle. Xanxus was very happy to have a pet Hungarian Horntail, and Newt Scamander was openly baffled as to how the hell Xanxus had managed to train that thing.)

"Which country are you prince of, anyway?" asked Fon curious.

"It's a relatively small and isolated one in the Carpathian mountain ranges. One of many enclaves that went into hiding when the peasants took offense to magic because of religious morons. The only reason I'm considered royalty is because the line was acknowledged as an 'Ancient and Royal' magical line before we went into hiding from the peasants, and as long as it remains unbroken it will remain as such," said Belphegor.

"As such anyone from an Ancient and Noble line going back farther than seven centuries is considered his 'equal', and if they go back even further, then they could outrank him."

"And two houses?" asked Fon.

"I'd outrank even their king," said Harry without hesitation. "Especially since both the Potter _and_ the Blacks have been around since long before their country was even in existence."

"So the reason why he's so well behaved around you..."

"Partly because my Sky resonates with Xanxus, but mostly because he's well aware of the fact I'm of a 'superior' bloodline to his and yet treat him as an equal anyway. That and I bribe him with food," admitted Harry.

"He gives good hugs," said Bel defensively. Fon chuckled.

"On an unrelated note, the Emperor was very pleased and more than a little...upset...when he found out that the British had taken one of the prized Chinese Fireballs out of the country without anyone informing him of the matter, and was beyond angry when he learned that the entire nest was almost completely annihilated for some over the top display of idiocy," said Fon.

"Really? How did he react when you handed over the last egg of that nest and told him how you got it?" asked Harry.

"He was amused and relieved that the nest wasn't entirely lost, though the dragoness in question has been placed into his personal reserve to prevent a repeat. He's also launching inquiries as to why the British idiots thought they had the authority to remove one of the dragons from his country. From what I understand there's an almost blanket ban on anyone from the English enclaves and an automatic arrest warrant out on anyone bearing the Dark Mark."

"Almost blanket ban?" repeated Dino.

"Xanxus, Harry and a Newt Scamander are considered one of the rare exceptions," said Fon dryly. "In fact he was so amused by the fact you decided to steal the eggs, but had the honor to return the Fireball to it's rightful country that odds are you might receive an invitation to the palace to have tea. Or at least an open invitation to see the dragon you saved in the reserve. It's very impressive, almost as good as the phoenix sanctuary."

"Huh. Well at least this time it's not because of that whole Boy-Who-Lived nonsense," shrugged Harry.

"Actually that was before I let it slip that it was Harry Potter and his cousin that rescued the egg. Your fame has reached that far at least, though the Emperor was very disquieted when he heard my assessment of the English enclave's most lauded school and how low the standards have fallen."

"Disquieted how?"

"He's the one who pushed for a complete assessment of the past twenty years when it comes to their educational standard. If it falls well below what's considered 'acceptable'...well, Hogwarts is going to be in quite a pickle considering they _need_ that accreditation from the ICW in order to be considered a 'premiere magical school'. If they fail, then they have to close down for at least a year or more until a new Headmaster or Headmistress is appointed from acceptable candidates, none of which can have political motives or background...which pretty much negates most of those who follow Dumbledore. Anyone who openly listened to him is automatically removed from the list. They would want neutrals in charge, not someone who's only going to act as a puppet," said Fon.

"Which means Hogwarts is going to be toast short term, but they'll thank the ICW long term. How much you want to bet that the pure bloods are going to be in for a very nasty shock when they're forced to hire new bloods or get in trouble?"

"Certain shops will survive, but the Ministry will almost certainly undergo a complete revamp from what I understand," said Fon. "To say nothing of the fact that their Auror department is going to be gutted and then rebuilt from scratch...their timing when it comes to incidents is well below the acceptable standards, as is their investigative ability."

"They probably haven't even bothered to update it since Jack the Ripper was alive and active," snorted Harry.

"A distinct possibility. There's also rumor of a prophecy concerning you going around, but the ICW has made it clear that unless Dumbledore coughs up the exact wording for professionals to go over, he can't legally touch you. Not even the Ministry can force you back to England, simply because you were proven to be a bloodline Vongola through your aunt," said Fon pleased. "The Italian Ministry would go to war with the English fools in a heartbeat before they'd hand over a Vongola, especially considering the English have shown nothing but incompetence when it comes to your welfare."

"To say the least," snorted Harry. "So anything else new? Besides the fact my brother has apparently managed to somehow get Viper as his Mist Guardian?"

"Viper harmonized?" said Reborn.

"With Xanxus. Completely by accident... I think he mentioned something about testing out his wandless magic and Viper caught him repairing some of the things he broke, and once Viper figured out he was magically inclined the two hit it off through spells of all things. Pretty sure he made Belphegor Viper's partner or something."

"He did. Mammy is surprisingly devious, when you pay them and they're bored enough to do it," confirmed Bel.

"So, Britain's about to get a massive wake-up call, Dumbledore still in major denial, and I've got half my Guardians now. I'm almost tempted to graduate early like Squalo did if only so I don't get bored," said Harry.

"How is Vongola Nono handling his new cousin?" smirked Fon.

"We have a very firm policy of pretending the other doesn't exist. As far as he's concerned I'm merely a way to pacify his mother so that she leaves him alone," snorted Harry. "So long as I don't embarrass the Vongola or make a nuisance of myself, he can ignore the fact I'm also in line to be heir."

Fon hummed.

"You could always take a sabbatical to Japan. I have a nephew who lives in Namimori and it has been some time since I've seen him."

Harry suddenly had a very evil expression on his face.

"You've thought of more chaos. Details," demanded Reborn.

"Well... from what Auntie told me, Iemitsu's civilian wife and son are living in Namimori as well. How do you think he'd react if the cousin who showed up out of the blue decided to visit his so-called family and told her the truth? Or at least nudged her to a divorce?"

"That is evil. I like it," said Reborn.

"What do you have against Iemitsu Sawada that you'd push for divorce?" asked Fon.

"He's so firmly married to his work that he doesn't even spare a thought to his family. I literally had to spell it out for him why I was so pissed he was in the Vongola mansion on Christmas and New Years instead of with his family and he _still_ didn't get it. If he only married her to sire a legitimate heir to the Primo's line and shut Auntie up, then he should have married one of his secretaries or something. It pisses me off that he's stringing his poor wife along and leaving her to do all the parenting."

"I demand pictures," said Reborn. Sadly he had to stay with Dino so he'd miss out on all the fun.


	17. Chapter 17

Harry took _one_ look at Fon's nephew (who was decidedly unhappy seeing Fon for some reason) and then made a rather odd decision.

He whistled sharply for Hedwig.

Immediately Kyouya's annoyance with his uncle shifted to awe and open interest in his bird.

"This is Hedwig. She's my friend and she likes to carry letters to people I write to. She also likes to eat rats and small rodents... when she's not stealing all the bacon. Want to see her hunt?" said Harry grinning.

Kyouya was in love the second he saw Hedwig dive from above and then rip the mouse into bloody entrails that dangled from her beak.

"Superior carnivore," he said appreciatively. He didn't even blink when Harry grinned and had him hold out his arm with his fist closed... he looked very pleased when Hedwig landed on his arm and 'walked' onto his shoulder, before preening his hair. Harry showed the rather violent boy how to stroke her chest feathers and got Hedwig to croon at him.

Fon blinked at how easily Harry converted his temperamental Cloud nephew into an instant ally.

"How?"

"Reminds me of a more bloodthirsty and violent Xanxus. He loved Hedwig immediately too," admitted Harry. "And you mentioned something about a fascination with the animal kingdom, so I figured why not give it a try? He certainly seems to like birds though."

Fon looked like hitting himself. Why hadn't he ever thought to bribe his nephew with small animals? Kyouya had already displayed a rather protective nature to the younger children and anyone he deemed a 'small animal'... and he could recall several times he caught small birds around him when the boy was napping.

"Want to visit the magical alley for a bribe?" asked Harry amused.

"Later. Don't you have to track down Sawada's family first?" said Fon.

"Sawada?" said Kyouya, giving them an odd look.

"Cousin. I really dislike the false carnivore because he doesn't bother to care for his pride properly and pretends he does," said Harry.

Well, Iemitsu _was_ called the young lion (which Harry felt insulted by, considering he was a Gryffindor) after all.

"I know where the Sawada family lives. Had to deliver the son there once after a kidnapping attempt. Slightly clumsy and somewhat slow in class," said Kyouya.

Harry had a bad feeling about this already.

* * *

 _Some time later..._

"You are simply too adorable!"

Nearby Nana Sawada smiled as her son was being hugged by the odd foreigner who was related to her husband. She could tell just by looking at him that he wouldn't hurt her son.

Tsuna 'eeped' and clung tightly to Harry's arm, fearful that the older boy would toss him up like a doll like that mean man with the rough beard did before.

Instead Harry settled the little one in his arms.

"There, there. You're not quite ready to learn how to appreciate flying just yet," he said gently.

Tsuna seemed to relax in Harry's grip, as he instinctively realized the older teen wasn't going to toss him in the air.

"So how do you know my husband?"

"Distant cousins. I was not pleased hearing that he'd rather be at work than with his family on Christmas," said Harry easily. "Fortunately one of my teachers has family here and I heard his wife and son were living in the same town so I decided to stop by and visit. No one told me what an adorable little one he had."

"Oh?"

"Ah! Bird!" yelped Tsuna, burying his face in Harry's neck.

Harry chuckled and rubbed his back like he would Bel when he was scared during thunderstorms.

"It's okay kitten. She's not a mean bird...she's a nice one," said Harry soothingly.

Tsuna cautiously poked his head away from Harry's neck to stare at the large owl on the branch. Harry slowly walked towards it before lifting his hand up for her to walk along.

"See? Hedwig's perfectly friendly... just don't pull any of her feathers. She doesn't like that very much...it would be like someone pulling your hair."

Tsuna slowly reached out a tiny hand to pat the bird. Hedwig stayed perfectly still and let the little one reach out to her. His face filled up with awe and delight when he felt how soft her feathers were.

"Pretty..." he said in amazement, letting Harry guide his smaller hand into stroking the chest feathers. Hedwig walked onto Harry's shoulder and began to preen Tsuna's fluffy hair.

Nana watched the whole thing with tolerant amusement. It was clear that Iemitsu's young cousin had a way with kids.

Harry somehow managed to convince Nana to let him take her and her son out to eat (his treat of course). And during the meal he managed to get her to talk about her 'marriage' with Iemitsu. Having a sympathetic ear to vent to helped a lot.

She could have lived with the fact that her husband worked overseas a lot...but she was _not_ happy about the fact he had been openly lying to her and didn't even give her any proper contact information.

Fortunately Harry was all too happy to give Nana the contact information for Daniela. Knowing his aunt, she would be on the first plane she could get her hands on if Nana ever needed help. After all, Tsuna was a descendant of the Primo which made him family.

Though he was disgusted with the fact that he had yet to see _one_ shred of protection around Sawada's wife and son. Living with Reborn as a sort-of roommate and having constant prank wars with the chaos magnet made him hyper aware of such things... Harry saw no evidence that there was any protection around the home or family.

He would have to correct that.

* * *

"Please tell me you are joking," said Daniela, livid.

"Zero protections around the family, and the cover story he gave her is so pathetic even a child could see through it. And don't get me started on the fact that the asshole didn't even bother to leave her actual contact information," said Harry in disgust. "I gave her your personal cell number in case of emergencies, but it's pretty clear to me Iemitsu had no regard for his civilian wife and son at all. I wouldn't be shocked in the least if the asshole sealed his son's Flames if they ever went active, purely so he wouldn't have to deal with it."

Daniela looked pissed, Xanxus was furious, and Fon looked quietly disgusted.

"It would seem to me that we may need to set up protections of our own," said Daniela.

"I can set up some wards as an early warning and give Tsuna an emergency port key... from what I could sense he might have magic in his blood. Or it could be flames. I don't think he is overly fond of the jackass either," said Harry.

From what little he got out of the poor kid, Iemitsu had a habit of tossing him in the air and forgetting to actually _catch_ him. It was as if he were nothing more than a doll that Iemitsu could parade around and pretend he was being a good father with.

He seemed to gravitate to Harry pretty quick, once he got over the shock of meeting Hedwig.

Still, the fact remained Iemitsu was being very lax with the safety of his wife and son.

"So...how goes collecting your Guardians?" asked Daniela cheerfully, changing the subject.

"I have a Sun, Cloud, and Storm. I have an idea as to who could be my Rain, but nothing in stone."

"Oh? And who did you manage to snag as your Storm?"

"The bird brain is apparently strong enough to harmonize with an Arcobaleno," said Xanxus.

Daniela paused, set her coffee down and looked at him.

"What."

"Reborn and Fon were able to harmonize with me, and I'm planning to see if I can make Colonello my Rain," grinned Harry cheekily.

She stared at him in disbelief.

"Generations of Vongola have tried to snag Reborn as their Guardian... hell, even I've tried! And yet you are the only one to pull it off."

"Well I didn't try to force it. We just act as each other's enablers when it came to pranks and chaos and we just clicked, rather than me trying to force my Flames on him."

"This coming from the only person who gets away with cuddling with that homicidal brat I call a Storm officer," snorted Xanxus.

"But Bel is so adorably homicidal! How could I _not_ want to hug him?" said Harry with wide-eyed innocence. Daniela snorted before she started laughing.

"That's it... the next big Vongola celebration with all the allies I so want you to bring your Storm officer with you, if only so he can freak people out and then have Harry call him 'adorably homicidal'," said Daniela laughing.

Seeing the stab happy prince behaving while being cuddled by Harry was sure to be hilarious.

"Xanxus wants me to join in the regular sparring matches in the Varia to see if I pick up any guardians that way," snorted Harry.

"I'm not the idiot who gets along way too well with people most run screaming from!"

"You mean like your last girlfriend? Oh wait, I forgot that was your Rain," said Harry cheekily.

Daniela found the way Xanxus tackled and proceeded to tickle the hell out of Harry hilarious. If there was one thing the Wrath took far too much amusement in, it was that Harry was very ticklish.

"Envious virgin!" said Xanxus.

"Gun bunny!" Harry shot back.

"What's going on in here?" asked Sirius.

"A very childish insult war. Get popcorn," said Daniela.

Sirius grinned when he heard the two bickering. It was like him and James all over again.

"Way ahead of you," he said cheerfully, before he summoned an elf to bring them some.

The two heard Sirius, before sharing a look.

"At least we're not some old man whore," said Xanxus.

"Oi! I am not old!" said Sirius.

"You look older than Auntie," said Harry flatly. "She looks like she's barely pushing fifty, while you look closer to fifty-five."

"I'm barely forty," growled Sirius.

"You sure?" said Harry.

Sirius growled and turned into Padfoot. Daniela cackled as her boys pretended to 'act their age'.

* * *

"So let me get this straight... you want to see if I could be your Rain Guardian," said Colonello slowly.

"I have Reborn and Fon as my Sun and Storm, and the only other person I've felt even a remote connection with was you," admitted Harry. "Besides...this means you get to kick me around more and drag my ass out of bed at ungodly hours of the morning."

Harry did _not_ have a problem with military conditioning and training. Far from it...he rather enjoyed it since it put to use a lot of skills and habits that most people found odd or annoying, like the fact he was usually the first one up in the dorms.

Colonello stared at him.

"You sure about that, kora?"

"You don't snore and you are almost as much fun as Reborn is when it comes to being an enabler."

"Almost as much fun?!" said Colonello annoyed. How was he less fun than Reborn?

"Well... it's not like we've had a lot of time tormenting people in the name of training, after all," said Harry, scratching his cheek. "Dino's become _majorly_ paranoid about getting up at night to use the bathroom after all. I think last time he was strung up for two hours."

"Really now," said Colonello grinning.

"Want to see if we harmonize over a week-long prank and trap spree of the rookies to instill a proper sense of paranoia and constant vigilance? Then toss their asses into the obstacle course simply because?"

"God yes," said Colonello all too eagerly.

Daniela wasn't the only one laughing her ass off when she found out _how_ Harry managed to harmonize with his Rain. Sirius was begging for details while Reborn was smirking rather evilly at the thought of another conspirator. And that wasn't counting the fact Xanxus laughed for two hours straight when he heard the details.

Harry's "fame" in the Cosa Nostra rose quite considerably the _second_ it got out that he had _three_ Arcobaleno as his Guardians, a Cloud and twin Mists.

Fred and George went active after one experiment almost went hilariously wrong and turned out to be Mist-Storms.

Needless to say Timoteo had a very pained look on his face whenever the subject of his new cousin came up. Which his mother made a point to do, every chance she got. His sons certainly found it hilarious.

So much so that Enrico decided to have some 'family bonding time' since Xanxus had more or less monopolized their new cousin after claiming him as a little brother instead.

"You do realize Xanxus is going to have a total hissy fit when he finds out you've abducted me from class, especially when Reborn gets bored enough to call him."

"Worth it," said Enrico grinning.

Colonello snickered. It was totally worth letting his contract lapse with Mafia Land... he was getting bored to tears anyway, and Harry was hilarious to have around.

"I just had a fun idea... how hard would it be for us to convince your not-a-girlfriend Lal to put CEDEF through an inspection for competence?"

Colonello blinked.

"Inspection?"

"You know, to get a general idea of who needs training so they're up to snuff and who should be promoted."

"...So basically put their asses through the week of hell like we did the rookies back on Mafia Land, except we're being paid to do it?" said Colonello, a terrifying grin on his face.

"Hell, we could probably get Xanxus on board with the idea by having a trial run with the Varia! He'd get a kick out of the idea for sure!"

Enrico stared at his baby cousin.

"You are seriously terrifying."

"Oh chaos, how I love thee," said Harry grinning.

Colonello snorted.

"I knew it was you who composed that weird ass love poem that had Reborn howling with laughter about chaos!"

"Was it any good?"

"Cheesy as hell, but if you were going for pure comedic value it was fucking hilarious," admitted Colonello. "I think the twins got their hands on it and framed it for a laugh."

"So Harry what do you like to do for fun?"

"Chaos. That or flying."

"Flying?"

Harry had a sudden grin on his face.

"You ever fly a broom?"

"You do know Sky Flames allow you to fly without anything at all, right?"

"What," said Harry in shock.

"I thought you knew. Surely Nonna or Xanxus covered it."

"Thanks a lot...now we'll never keep this adrenaline junkie on the ground!" groaned Colonello. He had seen Harry on a broom...some of those stunts would have made _Skull_ balk at them!

"Tell me more," grinned Harry. Enrico suddenly had a bad feeling about this.

 _A few hours later..._

"What the hell happened to you?" asked Federico.

"Our dear adorable little cousin is _insane_. No wonder Xanxus is so fond of him," groaned Enrico. "The second he heard that you can fly with Sky Flames, he learned in within half an hour and refused to come down! And those stunts! I nearly had a heart attack that he'd end up crashing and turning into mush right in front of me! Oh, and apparently that weird poem about being 'in love with chaos' was one of his, not Reborn's."

Federico snickered. That particular poem had made the rounds after it was spotted framed in the Mysteriously Misty Mayhem shop...everyone assumed the twins got it from Reborn.


	18. Chapter 18

"I am sooo glad I managed to test out of Mafia School," said Harry, slumping on the couch.

"I think they mostly did it to insure Reborn didn't come back," said Dino snorting. Harry snickered. "Then again I'm not surprised you practically begged to test out of school... with that number of idiot girls after you, I would have done the same the first chance I had!"

"What's this about girls?" grinned Sirius.

"Every girl not already attached via marriage contract or with a boyfriend has been making eyes at him. At least, the ones not deterred by the fact he's compatible to the point he managed to snag _Reborn_ as a Sun," said Dino grinning.

"Or the fact that Belphegor generally tends to hang around me more often than not, along with Xanxus and Squalo. I swear, if I have to listen to one more idiotic yaoi fangirl fantasize about me with Squalo, Xanxus or Dino I'm going to scream!"

"Wait, what?"

"I have really good hearing and invisibility cloak. That and I convinced Reborn to place audio recording devices so I could figure out when the next fangirl was about to make their move. Apparently there's a very...large...number of yaoi fangirls who insist on pairing me with you. Thankfully there's a smaller number of Xanxus and Squalo fangirls who do the same. They're more likely to pair Xanxus and Squalo up than me," said Harry.

"What's 'yaoi'?" asked Sirius.

"Boy love. As in two boys dating each other," said Dino without thinking.

"And these girls fantasize about you with my godson?" said Sirius a little bit pale.

"Bleh. Dino's more of a best friend/brother figure than anything romantic," said Harry, making a face.

Dino looked at him for that.

"Seriously?"

"You've survived me and Reborn when we're both bored and in need of proper victims. And you're far more tolerable than Ron ever was...you at least know what the word 'tact' means and how to apply it. Ergo you've officially taken his old spot," said Harry without hesitation.

"Speaking of victims... did you see the look on the old man's face when he saw the basement?" grinned Sirius.

Harry cackled.

Timoteo, having decided to visit his mother in a 'preemptive strike' to keep her far, far away from some important meeting (Daniela made a habit of surprise visits to keep her son on his toes...something made far easier since she had been tricked into visiting a healer and prescribed several potions that would extend her lifespan considerably) and in the spirit of all meddling mothers everywhere managed to drag her son to see some of her latest works in the basement.

Timoteo couldn't leave fast enough. It was hilarious and Sirius would forever treasure the horrified memory of the man's face when he saw the basement.

"Did you hear about Enrico? He barely survived a surprise police raid...one of the bullets almost killed him," said Sirius.

He had taken a hit to the lungs from the back... it was only because he had been quick enough to down a small dose of Draught of the Living Death that he survived...the potion put his body into stasis long enough for the men to get his body of there.

Fortunately one of his Guardians had seen him knock back the potion, so no one mistook him as actually dead. It was only when he was in the hospital under strict magical guard that they were able to wake him up and save his life.

Daniela would forever be grateful Harry had reached out to her... if not for his Mist Guardians (because Fred and George were practically one person) then her grandson would be dead.

Timoteo was already pale at the mere thought of how close he had come to losing his oldest son and heir.

As it was, Massimo and Federico were already discreetly stocking up on magical potions and protections. If it hadn't been for that potion their brother could have died!

"On an unrelated note, Lal was all for a surprise assessment test for CEDEF. She even managed to trick Iemitsu into approving it for _all_ active members...including him!" said Harry evilly.

The Varia survived the "surprise assessment test", aka the Week from Hell. Mostly. Some of the newer members washed out, but then again if they couldn't handle a bored Harry and Reborn then they weren't ready to be Quality.

Xanxus was still snickering at how fast Harry won Mammon (Aka Viper the Mist Arcobaleno) over.

All he had to do was hand over full control of his accounts (within reason) to the Mist with the agreement they could take twenty percent off any investments made to his account and a ten percent fee for straightening the past twenty years out.

Considering wizards used actual gold and silver as currency and very, very few of them even knew what stocks and investments were, that meant there was a lot of money to be gained.

Seeing the Mist hug Harry when they got a much clearer idea of what the state of the Potter and Black vaults were (and thus the very generous percentage they would be making off helping Harry out) was hilarious. The fact they didn't once complain about any damages done to the Varia castle during "assessment week" (which Xanxus was seriously considering making a regular event) said volumes.

The fact most of the mooks were openly staring at the snickering Belphegor happily sitting in Harry's lap, more so. Belphegor _never_ acted his age.

"I'm sensing chaos, humiliation and blackmail material. I want in," said Sirius, practically materializing his ears and tail at the thought.

"Not until after Auntie, Xanxus and I get back from Japan. We're going to make a final assessment of the wards we had placed around that house before we really get to work."

"I can't believe Sawada didn't even bother to place any protections at all around his wife's house," said Dino in disgust.

* * *

Sheer and utter shock. That was the only way to describe Iemitsu and Timoteo's faces when they saw them.

"Auntie!" said Tsuna, running right up to Daniela, who beamed and let him crawl into her lap.

"Auntie?!" repeated Iemitsu in shock. "What are you even doing here?!"

"More to the point, why haven't you been here for the past year and a half?" countered Harry, raising an eyebrow with his arms crossed. "If you were a proper father, you would have known I've been visiting your wife and son with Xanxus for the past year, though we brought Auntie with us last time to confirm Tsuna's status with the Japanese Ministry in order to get wards placed around the house."

"What?!" said Iemitsu.

"Your son has magic," said Harry flatly. "I sensed it the first time I saw him, and once I had it confirmed with the healers I filed for permission to place proper wards around a 'mundane' house. Anyone could have walked in here and done something to your family with how little protection there was... you didn't even bother with an alarm system, for god's sake."

"How did you find his family?" asked Timoteo seriously.

"I asked. Fon's nephew lives in Namimori and he knew exactly who I was talking about the second I mentioned the name Sawada. Little Kyouya told me the general neighborhood he lived in and the rest was fairly easy when I remembered that Iemitsu is the direct descendant of Giotto. Tsuna could have passed for his clone," said Harry, rolling his eyes.

"...The Storm Arcobaleno's nephew lives in Namimori?" said Timoteo.

"Vicious little brat too. Fon's already confirmed he's going to be a classic Cloud when he gets older, and has practically guaranteed Kyouya will go active at some point. It wasn't that hard to nudge him Tsuna's way, since he likes birds."

Kyouya liked small animals. Tsuna was very small and very 'fluffy'. He also didn't seem to mind that Kyouya didn't really enjoy being part of the group, being more of a lone wolf... however the two of them had made a tentative friendship over birds. Specifically the small magical canary Harry bought for Kyouya when he agreed to behave around Fon, despite the fact Kyouya's Cloud instincts grated at being so close to a 'superior carnivore'.

"Auntie, lookit!" said Tsuna proudly... as he calmly produced a small, but vibrant ball of Sky Flame for her to look at.

Iemitsu choked in horror.

Daniela smiled and patted his head.

"What a good boy!"

Iemitsu was horrified.

"Xanxus, why don't you take Tsuna to play with Kyouya for a while," said Harry, eyeing Iemitsu.

Tsuna looked at Xanxus expectantly before reaching out his hands in the universal sign of children everywhere wanting to be picked up. Xanxus rolled his eyes and snorted, before calmly putting the kid on his shoulders.

"I don't want my son in the mafia!" hissed Iemitsu.

"God, you are an _idiot_. Did I not just tell you he has magic? Not all Flame users go into the mafia, you complete wanker!" said Harry.

"What?" said Timoteo.

"Magicals have their own term for Dying Will Flames. We call it 'soul fire', considering the source. It might not wake up as often as it does in the mafia, but it does happen. Hell, the Japanese Ministry was alerted Tsuna had a high chance of awakening his Flames and have already made a note of it in their records for when he's old enough to learn how to use his magic. Though they're more likely to wait and see if the family bothers to train him personally before they assign mandatory tutors," said Harry flatly.

Iemitsu looked like he was about to have an aneurysm.

"I refuse to let Tsuna grow up in the mafia. I want his Flames sealed."

Daniela damn near threw her own flames at him for that remark.

"Are you a goddamn idiot? Flames seals might work on normal Flames, but your _son_ is a Sky! There has never been a seal created to deal with the Harmony factor, never mind Sky Attraction! You would be condemning your son's childhood to a living hell because he would be unable to properly connect with the people around him and would still draw the attention of everyone because they instinctively expect more from him! Never mind the fact it would make him a clumsy, scatterbrained mess from having his ability to use his Flame cut off so young!" she snarled at him.

"You would essentially be asking that your son be extensively bullied and harassed growing up, simply because you are unable to handle the fact that he has Flames. And that's not getting into the fact that the Japanese Ministry would be after your ass since they would be _very_ suspicious if a child that had his name confirmed on their lists suddenly became a squib after showing such a strong reaction to the tests," said Harry, eyes narrowing. "They _would_ notice the seal and might even try to remove him from your wife's custody until they got the full story."

Iemitsu glared at him.

"Then what do you suggest?"

"Train him. No one said he has to decide whether to become part of the Vongola now, or when he's old enough to be held accountable for his own actions. And it would mean actual protection around your family," said Harry flatly. "No one said he has to know that the training has anything to do with the mafia or the Cosa Nostra."

Timoteo looked at his mother, who was seething at the fact Iemitsu would have ruined his son's childhood without a second thought. She was clearly pissed.

"Would a Flame seal do that much harm?"

"He's barely five. While it's unusual for children to go active that young, sealing him now...especially since he's such a strong Sky... would cause irreparable harm long term. Never mind the eventual harassment and bullying, if the seal stayed on long enough it might even damage his ability to harmonize with potential Guardians. And that's not even taking the Vongola Hyper Intuition into account... sealing him would cut him off completely from the ability and leave him even more vulnerable."

Timoteo winced, having it spelled out so clearly without any hesitation.

Iemitsu was furious. He didn't want his son in the mafia, but he also wasn't willing to stick around to give his son the proper training.

Harry eyed the man warily.

"Look, there is a simple solution to this. I can move into Namimori and train Tsuna, at least until he's older," said Harry. "Nana is already aware her son has magic and she took it fairly well. I could be a live-in house guest or something to cover up what's really going on and possibly nudge Tsuna and his potential guardians together without anyone figuring out he's a Sky."

"No way! I don't want you anywhere near my son!" said Iemitsu, not thinking straight.

"Would you rather I asked one of _my_ Guardians to train him or have a former civilian do it since I can break the idea to him gently without dragging him into the mess? The most I've been doing for the Family is slowly taking over auntie's contact list so that they stay 'helpful' to the Vongola rather than quietly act against it in case the worst happens," said Harry, giving Iemitsu a Look.

"It's your choice, Iemitsu. Let Harry train your son or move your family to Italy to train him yourself," said Daniela. "And before you ask, I will give you a personal tour of my special basement if you even _think_ I'll allow you to seal that boy."

Timoteo shuddered at the thought of his mother's basement.

"I think our best option would be to let Harry stay long term in Namimori...with _supervised_ visits to Italy to assess Tsuna's training. Far, far away from your personal home," said Timoteo. Daniela smirked at him.

Xanxus returned to the house looking slightly harried, but in a good mood. Kyouya might be a vicious brat, but he took to the lessons on how to fight dirty with great glee. He seemed to treat Xanxus as an 'equal carnivore'.

He had to admit, seeing the baby Cloud actually cuddle with the recently active Sky was hilarious...he took multiple pictures.

Kyouya's mother looked rather pleased, especially since it was very clear her son might actually live to see adulthood.

Clouds were rare for a reason... besides their temperament, most had a very terrifying habit of biting off more than they could chew and getting killed for it. Having a Sky that accepted them lowered the risk of that considerably.

Besides, the two were positively adorable together! Xanxus wasn't the only one taking multiple pictures!

(Tsuna took the news his "big brother" would be sticking around soon with cheer. He loved Harry's visits.)


	19. Chapter 19

"So let me get this straight, kora. You're stuck training a baby Sky who, coincidentally happens to be the son of that complete idiot Iemitsu, and we're not allowed to mention the mafia at all?" said Colonello slowly.

"We managed to convince Iemitsu _not_ to seal his son like a civilian parent would have if they knew it was an option in exchange for a few concessions. Chief among them is that we are not to talk about the mafia or anything related to it in front of Nana and Tsuna, I'll be bringing the kid with me to Italy to discreet locations so he can get to know the family like Enrico and the others...far, far away from the Varia, the Iron Fort or Auntie's personal villa... and we have to tone down the chaos until he starts to show signs of being able to handle it or surviving with his sanity intact. I made no concessions about not _corrupting_ him into being a mini-Marauder though," said Harry. "Auntie managed to secure a decent sized mansion, which just so 'happens' to be right next door to the Hibari home. Mostly because it was 'big enough' by Vongola standards... at least they're remodeling the kitchens."

Colonello wasn't the only one drooling at the thought of Harry's cooking. One bite of that and he'd happily convert to being one of Harry's Guardians.

"Besides, I'm giving you free reign of the basement levels, which we can turn into a proper armory and base for fun. Fon, you get to have a rather large dojo to play with and Reborn, you and Colonello get to have fun setting up the security system for whenever we leave the house."

Seeing the rather large and vaguely terrifying grins on their faces, Harry grinned right back.

He loved his Guardians. They were hilarious once you got used to their quirks, especially Reborn and Colonello.

Fon seemed to take an inordinate amount of dark pleasure in teaching Harry how to maintain a serene 'smile' while at the same time making your enemy completely lose their cool. Harry was a _very_ enthusiastic student, if only because he had a lot of practice holding his temper down until it all but exploded.

The moment Harry settled into his home, he wasn't the _least_ bit surprised when Kyouya promptly claimed a room of his own, which just so happened to have a skylight charmed specifically to allow birds in. Or the fact Hedwig had clearly decided to mother the boy and his pet canary Hibird.

(A name that would never cease to amuse him whenever he heard it.)

Within the first week, Kyouya wasn't the only one to quietly migrate his way into the house on a regular basis. Once Tsuna found out where his favorite big brother was staying, it didn't take much for Harry to arrange to pick the boy up for basic control lessons and to make very, very sure the teachers knew _exactly_ who was allowed to pick his 'little brother' up from school. If anyone else attempted to do it, then the teachers would call Harry first.

As it was, Tsuna's school quietly got a donation of an up-to-date security system. It recorded _every_ inch of the school up to fifty feet outside it in an undisclosed off-site location and would store the footage and audio for up to a month before being moved to a long-term storage facility. There were also several tracking devices and charms discreetly added to everything Tsuna and Kyouya owned or wore, along with a special necklace that the two knew never, ever to take off and was hidden behind several charms to be unnoticed that had an emergency port key to a set safe house.

Harry was proud to be a paranoid bastard, and he took the safety and security of the kids under his care _seriously_. Rather than be offended by it, Fon was rather happy by all the precautions. It certainly soothed a lot of quiet worries Timoteo had about Tsuna's safety, hearing that Harry had given Reborn and Colonello full run of his accounts so long as they could keep Tsuna safe.

Harry wasn't the only paranoid bastard in the home. Reborn was almost as bad, and Colonello was all too aware of the dangers of snipers.

Nana, when she heard about all the safety measures Harry put into place (after giving her a head's up) was perfectly fine with it all. After all, he was only doing it to keep her precious son safe, happy and allowing him to have something close to a childhood.

Harry didn't restrict where Tsuna could and couldn't go... he just wanted to make very, very sure that the boy was never kidnapped, hurt or held hostage by people after his father.

A man Nana now believed to be a member of a "deep cover espionage group", which made far more sense than the lies Iemitsu had been using previously. Which neatly explained why Iemitsu never bothered to give her proper contact information and why he was never actually around...which would always piss Harry off a great deal.

(Daniela and Xanxus quietly laughed their asses off hearing the 'excuse' Harry gave for why Iemitsu had been lying to Nana for years about what he did in Italy. The best part was that it was _technically_ true to an extent, save for the fact it was mafia. Iemitsu looked very much like someone had shoved several lemons up his ass the entire visit. It was hilarious for everyone.)

Though Harry would never tell Reborn and Colonello where he hid the camera the day Tsuna openly called them both "uncle" to their faces. Colonello looked like he had been slapped silly with a fish, before a broad grin came across his face. Reborn had tried to hide his expression behind his beloved fedora, but Harry had quick hands and had known Tsuna was going to call them that beforehand.

Fon had quietly snickered at their expressions.

* * *

The first kidnapping attempt on Tsuna was met with incredible violence.

And that was _before_ the Arcobaleno got involved.

It was pretty clear Kyouya was starting to harmonize with Tsuna early on. Tsuna had pretty much accepted the older boy as a "big brother", a role Kyouya took to with quiet glee.

Harry had explained Guardians to Kyouya in a way that the boy could not only understand, but take pride in.

A Sky and their Guardians was like a wolf pack. A Sky was automatically considered an alpha, but nothing said that it had to be the "only" alpha in the pack. Tsuna could be the 'leader' that kept the pack together and working as a unit...but Kyouya could be an alpha in his own right so long as he did it in a way that kept the pack together as a whole.

Kyouya had looked rather thoughtful before coming to a decision when, after someone explained to Harry what a "disciplinary committee" actually _was_ and what they did, to make Tsuna Student Council President the _second_ he established his dominance as the superior carnivore of Namimori.

Tsuna liked interacting with people and he wasn't terrified of Kyouya in a mood. Ergo he could deal with the herbivores and their whining once he had his Disciplinary Committee established, thus freeing up Kyouya of a lot of annoying headaches in the process. The fact Tsuna didn't mind the idea was just bonus.

Fon and the others simply found it adorably hilarious the way Harry managed to manipulate a classic Cloud like Kyouya into acting like a proper Guardian before he was active. Never mind that after the kidnapping attempt, Harry discreetly bribed Kyouya with the promise of being his sparring partner until he was strong enough to take on Fon and actually _win_.

It got Kyouya to practice with someone bigger than he was that wouldn't take the fact the kid occasionally kicked his ass personally, and it kept Harry motivated when it came to martial arts on top of keeping him in practice. Fon was very pleased with this.

The fact remained that a low-level mafia thug had attempted to take Tsuna from the school during lunch, only to be thwarted by a less than amused Kyouya who knew damn well the man didn't belong on school grounds.

"So let me get this straight. Somehow this...Esterneo familigia... found out that there was a baby Sky in Namimori and thought it was a bright idea to try and nab him?" said Harry, eyes narrowed.

He had let Reborn and Fon at the idiot who tried to grab Tsuna from the playground. Needless to say the fool caved pretty fast when he realized who was very pissed off with his stunt. Not that it saved him, but still.

"That famiglia has been on the decline since the failed attempt to use the Possession bullet on the Italian Prime Minister. There's been unsubstantiated rumors that they've been conducting human experimentation on their own members...including children," frowned Reborn.

Harry positively growled.

"And these bastards tried to kidnap Tsuna?"

"If they are performing experimentation, then they'd definitely kill to get their hands on a Sky," said Fon frowning.

Harry was already grabbing his mirror-phone... the twins barely knew how to answer their mobiles and had the worst habit of forgetting where they put them or keeping them charged. Daniela had been fondly exasperated at the habit and gave them a first gen assistant to keep in contact the _normal_ way. However they did keep the mirror-phones which were charmed to look like mobile phones that Harry had given them on their person at all times.

"Fred, George? I need a favor... can you two brew some polyjuice and a few other things for me? I don't want the kids stumbling across some of the more dangerous ones I might need soon."

"What are you planning, kora?"

"Well, how about a little bait and switch? It's not like they'd know Tsuna is a straight Sky and with a little polyjuice, I can track down their base and see if the rumors are in fact true. If they area, then it's going to be forcibly shut down."

"No way in hell," said Reborn flatly.

"Not even if I were to take one of you disguised as a doll or something?" asked Harry. "With a bit of magic it's not like they'd realize what you are before the entire thing comes crashing down on their heads."

"Let's make something close to a plan first, _then_ we'll consider letting you go in to give the lesser famiglias a reminder that Namimori is Vongola territory."

Which it technically was. The Vongola would come down _hard_ on anyone who trespassed to cause mischief in the area their Primo had retired to when the Secundo had taken over. The town had long be acknowledged quietly as Vongola-protected for several centuries.

Anyone stupid enough to try and kidnap a Sky, much less the Primo's own descendant from the area was practically begging for a beat down.

And that was before Harry bothered to call in Xanxus or Daniela.

* * *

 _A month later..._

There was another kidnapping attempt. Except this time it was 'successful'.

If by that, one meant that they managed to steal a "child with Sky flames" from the playground, unaware that they had fallen into a particularly nasty trap.

"Tsuna" was cuddling his stuffed 'chameleon' like a life line and none of the adults noticed the small anklets under his socks.

In reality Harry was under the polyjuice with a time-release dispenser which would inject a set amount every hour on the hour unless he used the counter spell. He also had a change of clothes and an emergency port key. The 'chameleon' was actually Reborn hiding inside one of his many, many disguises and a few spells to avoid detection. All very discreet and the spells would insure that the adults wouldn't try to remove the 'doll' from 'Tsuna'.

There had been an intense debate on who would go with him, but they all decided on Reborn because of the fact he was a Sun. He could handle any emergency healing and was sneaky enough to get around without alerting others.

Harry was armed to the teeth and fully prepared to go on a very murderous rampage if he even found a _hint_ of experimentation on children. Especially if they tried to do anything nefarious to 'Tsuna'.

He did not forgive those that harmed children.

Eleven hours after the 'kidnapping', he found himself unceremoniously tossed into a cage next to some other children.

Harry cast a glance nearby and saw three children. One had a nasty scar across his face and a feral aura about him. Another was quiet, and just by looking at him he knew that the boy was extremely intelligent.

But it was the third that had his attention the most.

He knew those eyes far too well, and the way the kid was looking at him didn't inspire the 'warm and fuzzies'. There was a darkness in him that was heavily reminiscent of Riddle from the memories inside the diary.

Harry had no doubt whatsoever that when (not if) the kid snapped, there was going to be a major bloodbath involved. Even Reborn tensed when that child's gaze landed on them.

There was a tense silence in the room, before one of the scientists came in and dragged the feral child out. He kicked, bit and screamed, trying to avoid whatever was about to be done to him before one of the men slapped him hard enough to leave him dazed.

Judging from the looks of things, especially the pissed off look of the dangerous child, whatever was about to happen wasn't going to be nice.

Harry had seen more than enough. He waited for the child to be brought back, bloodied and hurt but still very much alive before he tapped Reborn on the shoulder.

Like Harry, Reborn didn't need any more evidence that something foul was happening in this place.

With a bit of wandless magic he had the cage open. Seeing the full attention on him from the Mist boy, Harry grinned wickedly at him.

"Care to break out of this dump?"

"Kufufufufu...what makes you think you can escape?"

Harry pulled out a device and pressed a button.

It was a locator device that would bring Xanxus and his men straight to them...and blow whatever was being done to the children wide open.

Harry gladly switched into some real clothes (behind a privacy screen) before he spelled the doors open to the other cages and barred the door.

"Who are you, pyon?"

"I'm a very unhappy Sky who's more than a little pissed that these idiots tried to kidnap my little brother and thought I wouldn't come up with a counter-plan to blow their plans wide open," said Harry, gently ruffling the blond's head. He made very, very sure that the kid saw what he was doing so he didn't flinch. "Reborn, could you...?"

Reborn walked up to the blond and gently put his hand on the kid's leg. His body practically melted in relief as the Sun Flames healed the most recent damage to his body. Without even being asked, Reborn moved to the other two.

The Mist tensed when Harry walked up to him.

"What are your names? And I don't mean whatever number these soon to be dead idiots gave you."

There was something in Harry's eyes that had the Mist really look at him, before a subtle tension left his shoulders.

"Mukuro Rokudo," he said quietly.

"Chikusa Kakimoto," said the quiet boy with the squinting eyes.

"Ken Joushima, pyon!" said the blond.

"Well I'm Harry and this is my friend Reborn."

"You don't look all that hairy to me," said Ken.

Harry snorted.

"That was a horrible pun. Somehow I think you'd get along great with Padfoot... he can never resist his ridiculous Sirius/serious jokes no matter how horrible they are."

Harry hid them from view while throwing a few illusions to make the scientists believe they were still in cages. Feeling the boys tense next to him when the guards came to drag out "Tsuna" (who was really a Mist double with hiding a video camera recording the entire thing) they were amazed when the guards didn't even notice they were out.

"How did you do that, pyon?" asked Ken.

"That...is a secret. One you'll find more about once my friends come. I've got plenty of room at my house for you to stay until it's safe for you to leave... wouldn't want the idiot mafioso thinking they have a 'right' to take you in as pawns simply because you're Flame active kids without knowing the full story."

Mukuro tensed at the idea of being taken in by more "filthy mafioso". Harry looped an arm around him in a loose hug, making it clear to the boy that he could break out if he wished. Instead Mukuro seemed to curl into his hold, which prompted the other two to relax into Harry's other side.

It was going to be a long couple of hours.


	20. Chapter 20

Xanxus took _one_ look at the strays Harry had protected during the attack on the labs, and snorted. It didn't take a genius to guess that Harry was going to adopt them and put their asses into a special therapy.

"What took you so long?" asked Reborn.

"I had to get these idiots to quit arguing over who was going to come," growled Xanxus. Behind him you could hear Enrico and Dino arguing. They had been in the room when Harry activated Tsuna's special 'alarm' and he had made the mistake of telling them what the racket was. "Where's the brat?"

"Safe at home behind so many defenses it would take more than these morons have to get to him, with Colonello, Kyouya, _and_ Fon guarding him. I swapped placed with him for a day to find out who was stupid enough to take a Sky clearly under the protection of the Vongola," said Harry snorting. "Reborn came as back-up."

"So you going to take the ducklings under your protection then?"

"They were experimented on. Only an _idiot_ would let them go without at least trying to give them time to adjust being out of this hell hole first and realizing not all mafioso are the same," said Harry rolling his eyes.

Besides he had more than enough room at his house.

Daniela clucked her tongue when she saw the three little ones Harry had rescued. However even she could see that they would do far better _away_ from Italy and the Cosa Nostra... at least once the shock of being outside the labs had worn off and they had stabilized. It was only natural that the children would develop some form of PTSD after what they went through... and considering the little Mist looked far too much like a younger Daemon Spade, trying to integrate him into another mafia family without giving him time to heal was just begging for something nasty to happen.

Mukuro and his friends seemed openly confused around Harry. Fortunately he knew better than anyone to take things slow... he was a victim of systematic abuse, neglect and outright torture.

Harry bent down to take the missile that was a worried Tsuna with ease.

"I'm home," he said gently.

Tsuna buried his head in Harry's neck, hugging him tightly while Kyouya hovered nearby.

* * *

Tsuna was half-asleep when he heard the sound of thunder outside. Rather than try to sleep on his own, he picked up his stuffed animal and left his room. It wasn't that he couldn't sleep through a thunderstorm...but he took any excuse he could find to snuggle against his big brother, who didn't really care if he decided to crash in his bed.

He paused outside the shared room of the three odd boys his big brother had brought back. Something in the back of his head told him to check on them.

The blond boy was shivering at the loud crack of thunder, while the one with the duo-colored eyes was watching everything with suspicion. They had been kept so deep underground that this was the first time they had heard thunder at all.

"Are you alright?" he asked in Japanese. Seeing the confusion on their faces, he quickly switched to his slightly clumsy Italian.

" _Loud noise. Scary,"_ shivered the blond. Ken, if Tsuna remembered right.

" _It's called thunder,"_ said Tsuna helpfully. He slowly walked to their bed. The one with the odd hair style eyed him warily, like he might attack them. _"Big brother doesn't mind it if we sneak into his room and use him like a big teddy bear if we're scared."_

" _Big brother?"_ repeated the quiet one. Chikusa rarely spoke at all.

" _Harry. He has big green eyes and really messy black hair and he likes to cook things and gives great hugs,"_ said Tsuna brightly.

Ken looked a bit wary.

" _Do... Do you think he'd mind if we stayed with him?"_ he asked, not daring to hope.

Tsuna held out a hand, and it didn't take much coaxing for Ken and the others to follow him to Harry's room. He even let Ken hold his stuffed wolf which the other boy held like a shield.

Harry didn't even bother opening his eyes or turning on the light. The second he heard the door open, he rolled over...but not before patting his bed in invitation.

Tsuna let Ken crawl in first. The first crack of thunder had him practically jump under the covers and hold Harry's side.

That did make Harry open one of his eyes briefly. He knew Tsuna was almost over his fear of thunder, so this had to be one of his more recent rescues.

"Well climb on in then," said Harry with fond amusement.

Tsuna didn't need to be told twice. He practically curled into Harry's lap like a kitten.

Chikusa and Mukuro were far more reluctant...but the temptation of being so close to Harry's calm, protective Sky proved to be stronger.

Ken's shivering slowly dissipated as he fell back asleep. It didn't hurt that Tsuna's gentle, playful Sky was right between him and the outside of the bed. Once the other two were settled in, they slowly fell asleep as well. The bed was warm, soft and was more or less saturated in the feeling of Harry's Sky. It was one big cuddle pile.

* * *

 _Some time later..._

"Ken, what have I said about stealing cookies before they're cool enough to eat? I have to go through this enough with Reborn and Colonello," said Harry with fond exasperation.

Ken looked like a wide-eyed puppy, which only made Harry's amusement grow. He _gently_ patted the kid on the head and gave him some brownies...which were cool and had finally set with fresh chocolate icing and sprinkles... to divert him away from the chocolate chip cookies.

Happily settled in with his treat, Harry was quick to hit Mukuro and Chikusa with a hex that left them dangling from the air.

"You'll have to get up a lot earlier if you want to pull a diversion and actually make it work on me," he said playfully.

Seeing Mukuro openly pout (without the look of vengeful hatred that had been present in his eyes before), Harry considered his prank a success.

"Next time try coordinating with Colonello or Reborn. Or if you can manage it, Fon. _He's_ usually fast enough to swipe the entire plate before I notice," said Harry amused.

Only to turn and find that someone had in fact stolen said plate of cookies while he was chastising the two.

And his name was Kyouya, who looked far too smug.

"Cheeky bastard," said Harry. He let Mukuro and Chikusa down...only to find that Ken had stolen all the brownies and was sharing them with his friends. Mukuro looked far too smug about that fact.

Harry smirked behind their backs.

There was a loud squawk of surprise as Ken turned into a canary.

He cackled.

"Looks like that time-delayed canary cream recipe was a total success!"

Seeing the wide eyes of Tsuna, he laughed.

"Go see if Kyouya would be willing to share the cookies... or perhaps I could have some enterprising volunteers that would help me bake some more for everyone," said Harry with a grin.

So what if he was domestic? Seeing the kid's eyes light up at the idea of helping him make treats and possibly get them fresh from the oven before the fake babies made it entirely worth it.

Especially Mukuro and his friends. Seeing them act like the children they were was very rewarding.

Harry considered it a major victory when he was able to hug the little Mist without the boy tensing up. It had taken _years_ before his family was able to partially train him out of his habit of flinching at unexpected physical affection. The second Reborn had found out Harry flinched at being hugged without knowing it was coming, he had made it a point to surprise the teen with them at random intervals and it hadn't taken much to convince Dino to join in.

Which coincidentally lead to most of the Harry/Dino fantasies in Mafia Academy.

Mukuro mostly put up with Harry's hugs and affection with annoyed tolerance. Mostly because he knew better than to bite the hand that made such delicious foods and kept the filthy mafia far, far away from him and his brothers, as Harry insisted on calling them.

Ken and Chikusa really didn't know how to react to the news Harry had quite literally adopted the three of them.

To be fair, Mukuro only really warmed up to Harry when the older male had sighed in exasperation and decided to corrupt the vengeful boy to the wonders of Daniela's special basement. One look at that and the knowledge they wouldn't bat an eye if he got his revenge on all the people who helped the Esterneo kidnap and hurt innocent children (with proper supervision, since it was unlikely he'd know how to operate said devices properly) or if he happened to take a bit too well to the Black family magic had settled something in his soul.

Mukuro would always have that seed of darkness and hate in his heart. But at least under Harry's careful guidance and the fact Tsuna was slowly starting to harmonize with the older boy, he might be able to hide his darkness well enough to fool most civilians long enough to get the job done.

The Mist was a Slytherin to the core, or Harry would give up flying with his Sky Flames.

At least Mukuro had recognized Harry as a superior "Survivor". He took the idea of treating Harry and Xanxus (both of whom gave off the same aura Mukuro himself unknowingly did) as older brothers fairly well.

They treated him like a thinking adult capable of making his own damn mistakes. They only asked that he run it by one of them first before he jumped into something big...after all, they (mainly Harry with his adventures, though Xanxus was pretty close) had certain experiences that might make things easier and a little advice never hurt. He didn't have to take it, but having it might help anyway.

Though Harry had a very amusing look on his face the day he caught Mukuro using parseltongue on a conjured snake. That had been fun... Harry and Mukuro drove everyone up the wall for hours using nothing but snake speak while the only other person who had any idea what was possibly being said was Reborn who spoke fluent Reptile.

Due to the suddenness of rescuing Mukuro and the others, Harry had _reluctantly_ placed his plan of putting CEDEF through the same hellish week they had subjected the lower Varia ranks through.

However Mukuro was more than happy for a bit of "family bonding" as Harry _affectionately_ called it, in the name of forcing CEDEF to either weed out the weak and unworthy or collapse from internal strife.

Harry was not _technically_ part of the Vongola familigia. He held a rather unique position that the Don allowed purely because he didn't want to be reminded of his cousin or give Harry any reason to visit the Iron Fort more often than necessary... it wouldn't do to have any corruptible influences on his heir, after all.

Instead his "position", which coincidentally kept him very useful to the Family without actually forcing him to do any actual paperwork or hold any "power" as the Ninth believed it, was to slowly take over the Eighth's little social circles and discreetly train the hidden heir of the Primo without actually alerting anyone in the Cosa Nostra of his existence.

All the Alliance knew was that Harry had become absolutely smitten with Iemitsu's only son and had practically adopted the kid as a younger brother. The boy was almost on the verge of going Flame Active, and since it was very well known that Harry was a Sky who still had open positions, that meant he was either planning to groom the boy as one of his Guardians or insure that Iemitsu's young son became prime Guardian material for another well connected Sky.

The mere idea that the child in question might also be a Sky as well never crossed anyone's minds. And by the time it did, Tsuna would have been well trained and with Guardians of his own...too late for anyone to corrupt him against the Vongola.

Even so... Iemitsu screamed "wrong" to every sense Harry had, and that was before Flames came into the picture.

It wasn't the fact he was clearly an _inverted_ Sky...which neatly explained why the braying jackass had no Guardians (regular Skies were hard enough to harmonize with) as inverted ones were so narcissistic and so assured of their own self-importance that it was nearly _impossible_ to match them up with Guardians... but that Iemitsu's almost blatant disregard or concern for his _family's_ well-being and safety really pissed Harry off.

As an orphan who had a really crappy childhood because of the adult's open blind eye to the abuse and neglect he was suffering, the fact Iemitsu had been so quick to ruin Tsuna's childhood because he didn't want to raise or even train his son had firmly cemented the fact that he would never, ever get along with his cousin.

Xanxus would have _loved_ to have an excuse to make Iemitsu's day worse. Sadly this was one particular exercise he was banned from because he was the Varia Sky.

Didn't stop him from supplying _ideas_ to Mukuro and Harry though.

As it was, Mukuro, when informed of Harry plotting (and subsequently _demanding_ to be allowed in on it, if only to make a mafioso's life hell and being _paid_ to do it with Harry's cookies) started to cackle in an almost terrifying manner...when he wasn't "playing" with the Skylark.

If Mukuro didn't end up as the weirdest best friends with Kyouya, then he'd probably end up in bed with him. Harry wasn't going to say that to their faces...their fights were entertaining when he wasn't being made to clean up after them and they were having too much fun to actually make the really cutting comments that would push things from "bizarre bonding ritual" to "caustic relationship".

Harry had to sit Tsuna down to explain that the fighting between Mukuro and Hibari wasn't anything to be freaked out over.

Yes, the two going at it was terrifying, but it was the best way they knew how to _communicate_ with each other.

Mukuro had a very violent and sad past before now and had come out of it a not very nice person. However he was very loyal if he thought you were worthy of it, and outside of being a little scarring mentally he would never truly harm those he cared about. He was just awkward about showing how much he cared about others because he was terrified of losing them.

Hibari was lonely because the adults that he interacted with were generally _taught_ by the people around them that being violent was a "bad thing". The only reason he got away with being as violent as he could be was because his father was highly placed in the police and he was very selective of those he really went wild on. However like Mukuro once he found someone who could look past his more violent tendencies and aloof manner, his loyalty was unquestioned. It might be difficult to interest him in helping with the pack, but he would never hesitate to protect those he had given his loyalty to.

The reason why the two were always fighting was because they instinctively recognized each other as "alphas" and thus their instincts demanded that they show the other who was the superior of the two of them.

It was Tsuna's job to make sure that things didn't get _too_ out of hand and that they found a strange way to coexist with each other.

When the fighting got too bad, Harry coaxed Tsuna out into the battlefield and flare his Sky Flames...which made Kyouya's Cloudy-Mist and Mukuro's Mist flare back. Since Sky's nature was "Harmony", the two would settle down.

And if that didn't work, Tsuna was allowed to bribe the two battle nuts with cookies or some of Harry's cooking. That always did the trick, even if Harry then had to make some if they were out.

Right now though... Harry and Mukuro had some rather _terrifying_ grins on their faces.

By next month, they would be in Italy for a bit putting CEDEF through their paces. At the end of it, those that hadn't resigned from the stress test of two unrepentant pranksters from hell would have one final test.

Harry was going to gleefully unleash Fon's nephew on the survivors for a combat test. He wasn't fully trained, so they had a _chance_ of surviving his playtime with their bones intact.

However this was Kyouya, who took perverse pleasure in being a carnivore and "played" with delinquents and more recently the minor yakuza. He was going to be a _nightmare_ to fight against when he was older. And the part that pleased Fon the most was that it was very, very clear he only needed one good nudge to go Active...and properly bond with Tsuna.

Kyouya had firmly taken the "older brother" role for the smaller boy. Tsuna not only accepted his violent tendencies, but he also didn't mind acting as the go-between with the other students and the Disciplinary Committee, thus limiting the amount of "herbivores" Kyouya had to deal with.

He still had to deal with the adults and teachers, but at least he didn't have to hear the whining of the students.

"Right... so we're set up for next month then?"

"Lal agreed to let you put CEDEF through their paces while she goes through all the paperwork in the other branches," said Reborn smirking. Mukuro's grin wasn't much better.


End file.
